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DR. RIGBY'S 



PAPERS ON FLORIDA, 

GIVING A GENERAL VIEW OF EVERY PORTION OF 

TIJE STATE, ITS CLIJJATE, RESOURCES, STATISTICS, 
SOCIETY, CROPS, TRADE, &c. 



By T. C. RIGBY, M. D. 



Cincinnati: 
E. MENDENHALL, 

PUBLISHER & BOOKSELLER. 
1876. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 
Historical Sketch of the State of Florida, 5 
Different Varieties of Soil, productive- 
ness, etc., 11 

The Climate of Florida — Comparisons 
with other portions of the world, 

Italy, California, etc., 14 

The Healthfulness of Florida, .... 18 
Area and Disposition of Lands, ... 20 
Prices of Land, Homestead Lands, etc., 20 
The Financial Condition of the State, 

Taxation, etc., 21 

White versus Colored Labor in the 

South, 22 

The Lumber Trade, Extensive Forests, 

etc., 23 

Agriculture and Horticulture, .... 26 

Southern Manufacturing, 26 

Naval Stores, immense productions, . . 28 
Present Immigration, class of settlers, etc, 28 
Leon County — Productions, wealth, etc., 29 
Jefferson County — Its delightful climate, 
unrivalled attractions, fertility of 

soil, etc., 32 

Madison County — Past wealth in agri- 
culture, rich lands, general farming 

interest, etc., 33 

Gadsden County — One of the most 
healthy and productive counties in 

the State, 35 

Wakulla County — The Banner sugar and 

sweet-potato county, 36 

Duval County — Its immense lumber 

trade, etc., 37 

Escambia County — Its agricultural wants, 

rich soil, delightful climate, etc., . 38 
Santa Kosa County — Its soil, productions, 

stock-raising, etc., ...... 38 

Suwannee County — Its fruit-growing, etc, 39 
Taylor County — Its extensive stock-rais- 
ing, future prospects, etc., .... 39 

Nassau County — Its future, prosperity of 

settlers, etc., 40 

Columbia County — Its industrial re- 
sources, beautiful climate, fruit, etc, 42 
Clay County — Productions, accessibility 

to market, soil, etc., 43 

Hamilton County — Its farming interests, 

soil, timber, etc., 43 

Liberty and Franklin Counties — Stock- 
raising, fruit-growing, etc., ... 43 
Baker County — Naval stores, timber, etc, 44 
Bradford County — Fruit-growing, naval 

stores, etc., 44 

Jackson County — The Gem of West Flor- 
ida, fruit-raising, agriculture, etc., . 44 



Washington County — Stock-raising, lum- 
bering, agriculture, etc., .... 44 

Calhoun, Walton, Holmes, Alachua, Mar- 
ion and Putnam Counties — Agricul- 
tural enterprise, fruit-growing, tim- 
ber, etc., 45 

St. John's County — Market-gardening, 

climate, soil, etc., 46 

Lafayette and Levy Counties — Product- 
ive Soil, accessibility to good mar- 
kets, etc., 46 

Valusia County — Fruits, productive soil, 
beautiful climate, industrial wealth, 
etc., 46 

Orange County — Orange-growing, rich 
soil, thriving condition, enterprise 
of settlers, etc., 48 

Hernando County — Its admirable cli- 
mate, rich lands, fine timber, etc., . 49 

Sumter County — Its fruit-growing, gen- 
eral agriculture, energy and zeal of 
inhabitants, etc., 50 

Manatee County — Stock-raising, abund- 
ance of game, etc., 51 

Hillsborough County — Its resources, fruit 

growing, etc., 52 

Brevard County — Its natural attractions, 

increasing wealth, good hunting, etc, 53 

Polk County — Stock-raising, genial cli- 
mate, good markets for productions, 
etc., 54 

Dade County — Natural curiosities, de- 
lightful climate, fruit-growing, etc., 54 

Monroe County — Its primitive condition, 

etc., 55 

Jacksonville — Its commerce, industry, 

wealth, etc., ........ 56 

Fernandina — Its future destiny, shipping 

interest, etc., 57 

St. Augustine — The Saratoga of Florida, 

its numerous attractions, etc., . . 58 

St. John's River — Its tropical beauty, etc, 59 

Mandarin — Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's 

residence, etc., 59 

Hibernin, Magnolia, Green Cove Spring, 
Picolata, Tocoi, Palatka, San Mateo, 
Welaka — Towns on the St. John's, 
and their attractions, ..... 60 

The Ocklawaba River — lis natural at- 
tractions and curiosities, .... 61 

Sanford, Enterprise, New Smyrna, New 
Britain — Growing towns, and their 
future prosperity, 62 

Daytona and Halifax City— Thriving 

towns on the Atlantic coast, . . 63 



DR. RIGBY'S 



PAPERS ON FLORIDA, 

GIVING A GENERAL VIEW OF EVERY PORTION OF 

TI^E STATE, ITS CLIJJATE, RESOURCES, STATISTICS, 
SOCIETY, CROPS, TRADE, &c. 



By T. C. RIGBY, M. D. 



Cincinnati: 
E. MENDENHALL, 

PUBLISHER & BOOKSELLER. 
1876. 



PREFACE, 



In bringing this book before the public, it has been my endeavor to 
give as brief a description of every portion of the State of Florida as 
would still give the reader a good, fair knowledge of the different Coun- 
ties, Cities, Towns, etc. Having visited the State several years ago to 
recruit my health, and finding the climate so very delightful, I have since 
spent the greater part of eight years in traveling through the State, visiting 
every county, investigating its soil, products, etc., to my own satisfaction ; 
and in a great many instances I have been over the ground several times 
during this period. A great deal of my travel has been in the saddle, 
and by this means I have been enabled to explore regions of country that 
do not generally meet the view of the superficial or main-road traveler. 
I am not personally interested one dollar in the State of Florida, and what 
appears in this work is published from a wish mainly to bring, in a pro- 
per light, before a too often ill-informed public, facts and information which 
can only be attained by fair research. 

I also bring before the public, as an assistant to the better understanding 
and locating the different sections herein described, a book entitled "Rigby's 
Florida Chart and Hand Book." This little book will be found valuable 
to the reader. See advertisement in back of book. 

Truly, Yours, 

T. C. RiGBY, M. D. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by. T. C. Rigby, in the Office of the 
Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



i 



PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



BY T. C. RIGBY, M. D. 



mSTOEICAL SKETCH. 

From the earliest discovery of Florida, 
in 1497, by Sebastian Cabot, five years 
after the first voyage of Columbus, up 
to the present time, she has ever and 
anon been the subject of considerable 
interest. As early as 1512 Ponce de 
Leon landed on her shores in search of 
health, hoping to find in her glades or 
forests the rejuvenating fountains of 
eternal youth. Other Spanish expedi- 
tions for the conquest of Florida fol- 
lowed, the most noted of which was that 
under Hernando de Soto in 1539. This 
bold and chivalric adventurer, with a 
thousand mail-clad followers, landed at 
Tampa Bay (San Esperitu), and amid 
the hardships and dangers of penetrating 
and traversing an unexplored country, 
inhabited by barbarous and hostile sava- 
ges, made his way northward beyond 
the present confines of the State, and 
thence pursued a southward route to the 
Mississipjji, when his own restless career 
and that of his ill-starred expedition ter- 
minated. His failure to find among the 
natives the precious metals in abun- 
dance, as his compatriots Pizarro and 



Cortez had done in Peru and Mexico, 
cooled the ardor of the avaricious Span- 
iards for conquest and domination in the 
vast territory then claimed as Florida. 
The first permanent settlement was 
made in the sixteenth century, by some 
French Hugenots, on and near the 
mouth of the St. John's River. A few 
years after they were massacred as here- 
tics and foreigners. A similar fate soon 
overtook the perpetrators of this bar- 
barous deed. In 1565 the Spanish gov- 
ernor, Menedez, founded St. Augustin ; 
and consequently, for antiquity, its 
claims to priority over every other place 
in the United States are conceded to. 
From this time Florida became a petty 
colony of Spain, only attracting a little 
attention now and then during the con- 
tinental wars of Europe. From 1713 
to 1784 Florida was a British posses- 
sion, during which time an Englishman 
named Turnbull planted a colony of 
Minorcans at New Smyrna ; but on the 
recession to Spain the colony was broken 
up. In 1819 Spain ceded Florida to 
the United States, and in 1821 the 
latter took formal possession. 



DR. RIOBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



During tlie time of nearly Jhree cen- 
turies of Spanish claim and possession, 
but a few small settlements had been 
made along the coast, the principal of 
■which was Pensacola. With the deca- 
dence of the Spanish power in Europe 
that of the colonies kept pace, and no 
efforts appear to have been made either 
to possess and cultivate the soil or to 
civilize the aborigines. On the other 
hand it seems that her Indian population 
received some considerable recessions 
from those of Georgia and Alabama, so 
that when Florida was ceded to the 
United States, it is estimated that there 
were not exceeding six hundred whites 
in the territory, while occupied by 
a tolerably dense Indian popvilation 
throughout. The number of refugee 
Indians was so great and preponderating 
so as to attach the name Seminoles, 
(meaning refugee, or runaway), to the 
whole of the Florida Indians. 

It is highly probable that the Span- 
iards made some efforts to establish a 
settlement in the extreme southern part 
of the peninsula, as being nearest and 
most accessible to Cuba. And there 
are strong probabilities that they pro- 
jected and undertook to drain Lake 
Okechobee, as various completed sec- 
tions of canal from the Lake to the 
Caloosahatchie Kiver are still to be 
seen. In relation to this there is a 
legend that they had a penal establish- 
ment on an island in the lake, and that 
it was with convict labor that this effort 
to drain the lake Avas made. 

In 1845 Florida was admitted into 
the Union, and thence on, her political 
history has been that of the other 
States, and particularly those of the 
South. From her cession to the United 
States to within two years of her seces- 
sion, Florida was continually the thear 
ter of hostilities between the General 
Government and the Seminole Indians. 



The latter were easily driven into the 
peninsula, but here, with Spartan cour- 
age and Roman firmness, they resisted 
alternate coercion and persuasion to go 
West, and a feeble remnant still re- 
mains, evincing the instinctive love of 
country even in the savage breast. The 
presence of so large a tribe of Indians, 
together with their frequent and pro- 
tracted hostilities, retarded the settle- 
ment of the peninsula for nearly forty 
years. 

Since the late war the State has at- 
tracted considerable attention on ac- 
count of the mildness of its winter cli- 
mate and fruit growing. But, so far, 
the eastern part, because of its gi'eater 
accessibility, has been the only portion 
much visited or settled. The whole 
State is generally judged in both soil 
and climate by what the tourist experi- 
ences and sees along the St. John's, and 
thus he fails to arrive at anything like 
a correct estimate of these two impor- 
tant features of the State. 

Florida is a much larger State than 
Iowa or Illinois, containing an area of 
59,868 square miles, or 37,931,520 
acres. Very large concessions of these 
lands have been made to the State by 
Congress for works of internal improve- 
ment. The population by census of 
1870 was 187,748, and Governor Reid, 
in his message to the Legislature in 
1872, estimated the increase of the two 
years at 40,000, and the ratio of in- 
crease is much higher at present, for a 
knowledge of the inducements wliich 
the State offers to settlers have been 
widely diffused. The mildness of the 
climate, the productions of the soil, and 
the cheapness of the land have induced 
many to emigrate from the Northern 
States and from Europe, who have in- 
vested capital in agriculture or lumber- 
ing, which, at present, are the the lead- 
ing pursuits of the people and the chief 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA 



sources of wealth. Cotton, corn, sugar- 
corn, rice, sweet and Irish potatoes, 
oranges, lemons, pine-apples, bananas, 
indigo, &c., are the principal crops. 
The raising of vegetables and fruits for 
the Northern markets has proved profit- 
able, and will in a few years add 
materially to the trade and wealth of 
the State. 

Comparing the Great West with 
Florida, I would say: "Having lived 
in Ohio before the war, and in Indiana 
since the war, and having traveled ex- 
tensively over the principal Western 
States between that time and this, I 
am able to state, confidently, that there 
is not anywhere else on earth so vast a 
body of extremely fertile land as that 
between the Great Lakes and the 
Rocky Mountains. As a food-produc- 
ing region it so for excels Florida 
that that whole State is not equal to 
one county in some of the most fertile 
portions of the Great'West. It will al- 
ways -have an immense agricultural 
population, producing a great super- 
abundance of food and wealth, support- 
ing great cities, and numerous railways 
and steamers to transport its surplus 
produce. Some of it now even reaches 
Florida, to feed the settlers on its soil. 
But, with all the great abundance of 
the \V"est, I would rather live in 
Florida, than upon the best farm in any 
of a dozen of those extremely rich 
States. And for this simple reason : 
'What profiteth it a man to gain the 
whole wealth of all the West and lose 
the enjoyment of this delightful cli- 
mate ? ' 

"In point of health none of the Wes- 
tern States can show a record that will 
compare at all favorably with Florida. 
Here, it is true, you are subject to 
malarious diseases ; show me a State in 
the West that can boast of freedom 
from such ; and some of them have 



them in greater extent than this, and 
in a more malignant type. Here, con- 
sumption, the North's most dreaded 
enemy, is almost unknown, except 
when imported. Here, diptheria, an- 
other scourge of all the Northern and 
Western States, scarcely, if ever pre- 
vails. So of pneumonia, scarlet fever, 
typhus fever and other diseases that 
are inherent to cold climates. It is 
true people must and will die there, 
but while they live they can anticipate 
a longer life and can live healthier and 
far more comfortably there than in 
Northern climates, particularly in old 
age, or feeble constitutions. 

"Of crops, it is true that Florida will 
never produce such as grow in the 
West. I have traveled there forty 
miles upon a straight line through what 
appeared as one corn field. I have 
bought and sold corn there for ten cents 
a bushel, and I have known it sold for 
less; and so have I known it used 
extensively for fuel on account of its 
depreciated value. 

"It is not at all likely that Florida 
will ever compete with the West in 
corn, oats, wheat, and many other food 
crops, nor in the production of beef, 
pork, mutton, wool, nor domestic ani- 
mals ; and I fear it will be a long, long 
time before I shall see in Florida such 
a continued succession of handsome 
farms and farm houses, mills, factories, 
cities, villages, school houses, churches, 
and other public and private buildings, 
as a traveler may see upon every hand 
as he goes westward of Lake Erie a 
thousand miles. 

"In the West, apples can be grown 
for about the same price per bushel as 
corn ; yet there are many farms without 
orchards, because it is useless to grow 
only for the owner's private use, just as 
it was in Florida a few years ago to 
grow an abundance of oranges. Now, 



DU. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



anywhere within reach of ea$y transpor- 
tation oranges find a ready market, and 
the greater the production the better 
will be the market, and the sales at home 
or abroad will always be double the price 
of apples, where they grow almost spon- 
taneously. Yet the growing of oranges 
will cost no more than the growing of 
apples, and very much less than peaches 
when they are produced in the largest 
quantities. The locality where they 
have been grown most abundantly, and 
at the least cost, is upon the eastern 
coast of Lake Michigan. 

"Will the market become overstocked 
if the cultivation of orange trees and 
the production of other tropical fruits 
is greatly increased in Florida? This 
question is often asked, and sometimes 
in a manner that indicates a belief in 
the questioner that it certainly will be, 
and California and other fruit-producing 
regions are instanced in proof of that 
belief It is very easy to overstock the 
market when the fruit is produced 
solely for home supply, and .so far from 
the great centres of consumption that it 
will not bear transportation. That is 
the reason why fruit culture is not 
profitable in California. 

"The Florida orange-grower will al- 
ways have an advantage over all the 
rest of the world, owing to his geograph- 
ical position and ability to put his fruit 
into a score of great cities by cheap water 
conveyance, in less than a week from 
the gathering from his trees. Can such 
a market be overstocked ? Not if there 
was a sea-going steamer leaving the St. 
John's every day, and a train of orange- 
loaded cars leaving Jacksonville every 
hour. Whoevever has witnessed the 
arrival of peaches in New York and 
Chicago, as I have done, and seen how 
quickly the freight of a large steamer or 
a long train of cars is absorbed by the 
dealers to be consumed by a hungry 



multitude, can readily believe this state- 
ment about the future of the orange 
trade of Florida. I have no shadow of 
a doubt but that I shall live to see the 
Great Southern Railway completed 
through that State and see it become 
the greatest carrier in the world of 
oranges and other semi-tropical fruits 
to the vast region of consumers North, 
East and West of Florida, which can- 
not produce, but will consume these 
cultivated fruits in such quantities that 
its extensive area of fruit soil, if every 
acre was devoted to its production, 
can never overstock the market. Am 
I over-sanguine ? Let us reason from 
analogy. Some persons may remem- 
ber the first settlements of fruit-growers 
upon what was called the Barrens of 
New Jersey, — a vast, flat, sandy and 
wooded region in the south-eastern part 
of that State, Fruit-growers traveled 
extensively through the woods and 
scrubby oak bushes, and examined the 
soil, if sand can be called soil, — just such 
soil as we frequently have in Florida, — 
and convinced themselves that sandy 
surface does not always indicate barren- 
ness. It does, when combined with 
calcareous matter, and covered with 
forests and other growth, indicate fit- 
ness for some profitable products, al- 
though it may not be adapted to several 
crops, and may need more artificial fer- 
tilization than the great Western prair- 
ies. For the opinion and advocacy of 
utilizing the Jersey barrens, these fruit- 
groAvers were laughed at, ridiculed and 
abused by the press, but it did not stop 
their determination, nor the influx of 
settlers upon those Jersey barrens, and 
the building of some of the most beauti- 
ful villages in the State, and the es- 
tablishing of numbers of the most profit- 
able farms and fruit-gardens. And I 
have seen at one of those villages, of a 
fine summer evening, a whole train of 



DR. RIOBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



railway cars loaded with strawberries to 
be sent off during the night to that insa- 
tiable monster, the New York market. 
And this from a village that had not a 
business habitation, nor an acre in culti- 
vation ten years before that time. Did 
such a train glut the market? No, nor 
half a dozen others arriving the same 
day ; nor will a dozen of orange trains 
glut it; for in this the orange-grower 
has the great advantage of durability. 
Strawberries and other small fruit so ex- 
tensively cultivated in the Northern and 
Western States, are so perishable that 
they mus tbe consumed in fewer hours 
and days than oranges will keep sound 
for weeks. Besides, the small fruit sea- 
son lasts fewer weeks than the orange 
season does months ; and out of season 
the small fruits are unsaleable, while the 
oranges are never out of season or out 
of place upon any table. I grant that 
fact also applies to apples and pears, 
which Florida does not produce to any 
extent, in comparison to the Northern 
and Western States ; but I contend that 
oranges can be produced in Florida at 
the same price per bushel that apples 
are in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, where 
they grow to such perfection. I grant, 
too, that apples are the superior fruit, 
of far more value in a family than 
oranges, yet I must also acknowledge, 
that oranges, in the greatest fruit 
markets of the country will always 
outsell apples. 

"At the same time I must admit that 
the West has advantages over Florida 
for a person disposed to devote his 
attention to fruit culture. This is trans- 
portation. Whatever brings the pro- 
ducer and consumer together solves the 
question of profit to whoever tills the 
soil. In Florida, on the other hand, 
out of an area larger than New York, 
where land can be bought for a fraction 



over a dollar per acre, suitable for the 
cultivation of oranges and other semi- 
tropical fruits, there are only a few 
thousand acres available, owing to lack 
of means of transportation. Of course 
time will bring this necessity, as the 
State is more developed. In mere rich- 
ness of soil the West is incomparably 
superior to Florida. But that very 
richness makes production so easy and 
abundant that farmers reap but small 
profits from their abundant means of 
transportation. That is why corn is 
burned for fuel. Corn in the West is 
a cheap product and won't bear long 
transportation. Apples would, but they 
are perishable, particularly in an atmos- 
phere that sometimes marks twenty-five 
degrees below Zero. Still, the inex- 
haustible richness of soil in the West, 
and its vast extent of lines of easy 
transportation, and its great and rapidly 
increasing population, give it immense 
advantages to all who can endure its 
intolerable climate and sea of mud and 
melting snow. For myself, after what 
I have experienced in my acquaintance 
with the West, and having tasted of 
the sweet fruits of Florida's climate, I 
have no desire to seek further acquain- 
tance with any of the Western States, 
notwithstanding their richness of soil 
and agricultural products. 

"Winter in the North and West is 
simply a state of torment, and the heat 
of summer exceeds the heat of Florida, 
and the night air is so close and 
stagnant to often prevent comfortable 
sleep, — not so in Florida, the nights 
are cool and refreshing there Avinter 
and summer. In every point of view, 
so far as nature is concerned, Florida is 
far more preferable for human residence 
to any portion of the Western States. 
In all artificial respects, Florida must 
wait patiently on time and work to 
accomplish improvements, which will 



10 



DE. RIOBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



follow, of course, an increase of popula- 
tion. As compared with the AVest, my 
conclusion, after eight years' knowledge 
of the State, and traveling over it dur- 
ing this period pretty thoroughly, is 
simply this: That in all that makes 
life desirable, so far as nature has made 
it, Florida is not only the peer, but the 
superior, of any of those great mines of 
agricultural wealth in the States which 
we have familiarly denominated the 
Great West, and that the day is not far 
distant, when the State will compete in 
population and wealth with any State 
of the Union." 

The means of transportation are 
rapidly increasing, new tracts, of coun- 
try being laid out, extensive saw-mills 
being erected, and every thing indicating 
prosperity for the State. Out of thirty- 
nine counties, twenty-two of them have 
a seashore border, while the St. John's, 
the St. Mary's, the Suwannee, the 
Ocklocknee, the Indian, the Hillsbor- 
ough, the Halifax, the Chocktuwachie, 
and the Apalachicola Rivers are na- 
tural channels of approach to the most 
interior parts of the State. There are 
four lines of railroads already esta- 
blished in the State, one extending 
from Fernandina, on the Atlantic coast, 
to Cedar Keys, on the Gulf coast, con- 
necting at Baldwin with the Jackson- 
ville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad, 
which extends from Jacksonville through 
the northern tier of counties to the 
Chattahoochee, at its point of junction 
with the Apalachicola. The latter line 
is connected at Live Oak with the Sa- 
vannah line. Pensacola is connected 
with Montgomery by the Pensacola and 
Louisville Railroad. Tallahassee is con- 
nected with the Gulf by a branch of the 
Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile 
Railroad ; while St. Augustine is con- 
i>ected with the St. John's by the St. 
Aujiustine and Tocoi Railroad. The 



New Orleans, Florida and Havana 
Steamship Company have a weekly line 
connecting with the Atlantic and Gulf 
Railroad at Cedar Keys, and steamers 
connect with the Jacksonville, Pensacola 
and Mobile Railroad at Chattahoochee, 
for Eufula, Montgomery, St. Louis and 
the Great West. Steamers connect 
with the New York and Baltimore 
steamers at Charleston, S. C, and Sa- 
vannah, Ga., for Jacksonville, Florida, 
where steamers run daily to the upper 
St. John's. 

Among the many causes operating 
favorably in increasing the population 
and wealth of Florida, has been the 
confidence universally felt by settlers 
that every family coming into the State 
will be protected in life and property, 
and will not encounter that anarchy 
and disorder which have convulsed 
many of the other Southern States. 
There is nothing that has operated so 
disastrously to the cause of Southern 
immigration, as the disorders that have 
grown out of the late war, and which, 
in some sister States, still distract socie- 
ty. It is a matter for profound con- 
gratulation, that, while the bitterest 
passions of prejudice and hate have held 
uncontrolled sway in other 'portions of 
the South, Florida reposes in absolute 
peace and forgetfulness of the past, ex- 
tending the right' hand of fellowship to 
all, and inviting them ungrudgingly to 
share the honors equally with the duties 
of citizenship. The history of late elec- 
tions furnish a forcible proof of the 
restoration of that social peace and tran- 
quility essential to the welftire of any 
State. Nothing is known of white 
leagues or those numerous political or- 
ganizations which flourish through the 
South, and the existence of which is so 
repugnant to the spirit of Southern in- 
stitutions and inimical to the well-being 
of society. Forbearance and modera- 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



11 



tion have characterized the actions of 
both races iu that State. As to voting, 
the Governor, in his last annual mes- 
sage, says : "Elections have passed with 
unprecedented order and quiet, and it 
is believed a fair expression of the peo- 
ple's will has been had. I have yet to 
learn of a single collision or disturbance 
at the polls, between races or opposing 
parties, growing out of political contest. 
Freedom of political opinion and action 
has been accorded alike to all and recog- 
nized as an essential principle of free 
government. Equal civil and political 
rights are denied to none, and the most 
cordial good-will prevails among all 
classes of our people. The citizens of 
Florida are loyal to the Government, 
and would cheerfully render any assis- 
tance in their power to uphold and 
defend it. A patriotism as broad and 
comprehensive as the American Union 
possesses their hearts, and I doubt if 
any State has a more loyal, patriotic 
and hospitable class of citizens than the 
people of Florida." 

Governor Stearns is a Republican, 
and a one-armed veteran of a Maine 
regiment. He is a model Executive, 
and his Cabinet is hard to beat (morally 
and physically). 

SOIL. 

Perhaps in no State of the Union can 
there be found so great a variety of soil as 
in Florida. This is at once apparent to 
agriculturalists, when they take into con- 
sideration the fact that there is scarcely 
a vegetable product of any portion of 
the country that is not to be found 
flourishing here ; besides, a very long 
list in which Florida enjoys a monopoly. 
It has been the practice of ill-informed 
writers and tourists who have "done 
the State" to the extent of visiting Jack- 
sonville or seeing the St. John's bar, to 
speak of the State as an immense sand- 
bar. If Florida is nothing but a sand- 



bar, whence all the splendor of vege- 
table life which is the theme of every 
traveler who has really examined and 
traversed the State ? There never Avas 
a greater mistake. Even in its diluvial 
formation it differs widely from all other 
sections of the country, for the greater 
portion of it is clay intermixed with a 
calcareous formation. By far the larger 
portion, however, is a rich alluvium, 
from which spring the most majestic 
forms and prodigal display of vegetable 
life. The immense forests of live oak, 
water oak, hickory and magnolia, which 
are to be found iu all parts of the State, 
and tlie magnificent savannas which 
cover the southern portions of the State 
as with an ocean of perpetual verdure, 
are not the products of sand-bars. When 
discovered by the Spaniards, centuries 
ago, it was reported to Spain as a wide- 
spread sea of vegetation, the splendor of 
which filled them, with amazement. 
Probably since the time of its emergence 
from the ocean it has exhibited just such 
a scene of luxuriance ; and year after 
year has the accumulation of decomposed 
vegetable matter been going on, the 
result being the formation of some of 
the richest lands on the continent. Even 
much of what is called sand is not sand, 
but soil, which, encouraged by a little 
fertilization, brings forth abundantly. 
Most of the poor lands are to be met 
with in the eastern portion of the State, 
and those who have made a trip up the 
St. Johns imagine they have received 
while going up the river a proper im- 
pression concerning the soil of the entire 
State. It is far from being correct, 
however, for it is not until the stranger 
has extended his visit to the middle and 
western counties that he gets a glimpse 
of the rich lands of Florida. IMadisou, 
Jeft'erson, Marion, Alachua, Leon, Gads- 
den, Wakulla, Liberty, Franklin, Tay- 
lor, Lafayette, Levy and Hernando 



12 



DE. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



Counties, embracing what is called 
Middle Florida, a portion of East 
Florida and a strip of land along the 
Gulf coast, can not be excelled anywhere 
for variety and richness of soil. There 
is, of course, in every State and Terri- 
tory of the Union a very large propor- 
tion of poor lands ; but the ratio of these 
lands differ greatly in different States. 
Florida has a due proportion of poor 
and even worthless lands, but compared 
with other States, the ratio of her barren 
and worthless lands is very small. With 
the exception of the Everglades and 
some portions of irreclaimable swamp 
lands, there is scarcely an acre in the 
State which can not be made tributary 
to some agricultural production. Recent 
experiments made with the very poorest 
quality of pine lands have shown that 
they are not so worthless as was sup- 
posed, but can be made, in the hands of 
industrious and intelligent settlers, to 
yield abundant crops. 

The bulk of the lands in the State is 
what is denominated "pine lands", and 
is divided into first, second and third 
rate. The soil of the first rate pine land 
rests upon a substratum of clay or marl, 
overtoj)ped by a dark mould of decom- 
posed vegetable matter. This land is 
exceedingly fertile, producing splendid 
yields of the most exhausting crops for 
several years in succession without any 
need of fertilization. There are large 
bodies of this class of land scattered 
throughout the northern tier of counties 
and along the Gulf coast. 

The second class of pine lands is 
only a trifle less productive than those 
of the first class. Generally speaking, 
these lands are high and rolling, and 
are characterized by a heavy growth of 
pitch and yellow pine timber. They 
rest upon a basis similar to that of the 
first class, but the mould is lighter, and 
they show signs of exhaustion, if not 



fertilized, after a few years. A little 
fertilization, however, restores their vi- 
gor. Cow-2:)enning is the favorite mode 
of restoration, and treated in this way, 
they will yield 300 pounds of cotton to 
the acre. 

The third class of pine lands is distin- 
guished by being covered with a growth 
of saw -palmetto, black jack and a shrub 
called the gall-berry. The presence of 
the latter is a certain test of poor soil. 
Another feature of this land is the pres- 
ence of "hard" or "slush" pine, the roots 
of which are to be found running very 
near the surface. These lands are not 
worthless, but can only be made to 
yield remuneratively after much labor 
and heavy fertilization. Sisal hemp can 
be grown very successfully on them, 
and with proper machinery to crush 
and prepare the fibre for market, their 
value would be equal to that of any 
other class of pine lands. 

Thei'e is another species of pine land 
called by the natives "flat-woods." 
About four feet from the surface of this 
land a stratum of w^hat is called sand- 
rock is found. This is composed of com- 
mon fine sand, and cemented by sul- 
phate of iron and aluminum; and a 
subsoil thus formed is almost impene- 
trable to moisture. As a consequence, 
it holds up all the rain-falls, so that the 
land becomes packed, and is known to 
the natives as "sobbed land." Such soil 
is of very inferior quality, and is scarce- 
ly fit for profitable agriculture. 

But by far the finest lands in the 
State are known as "swamp", "low 
hammock" and "high hammock" lands. 

The swamp lands are the richest in 
the State. They are formed entirely of 
humus or decayed vegetable matter, of 
an extraordinary depth, and when i-en- 
dered fit for cultivation, by drainage 
and ditching, give evidence of an inex- 
haustible fertility. It has been demon- 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



13 



strated that these lands will yield four 
hogsheads of sugar to the acre, — a most 
convincing proof of their great value, 
especially when it is borne in mind that 
sugar-cane is one of the most exhausting 
crops known. Immense bodies of these 
lands are located in central and South- 
ern Florida, Drainage is necessary, 
however, to render the greater portion 
available for purposes of agriculture. 
There are perhaps over a million acres 
of these lands in the State which can be 
purchased at from seventy-five cents to 
a dollar and a quarter an acre. 

The lands denominated "low ham- 
mock" rank next to the swamp lands in 
fertility. They are generally moist, 
and some ditching is required for suc- 
cessful cultivation. They will sustain a 
succession of the most exhausting crops 
for several years with as much apparent 
vigor as the swamp lands, but are not 
so durably rich, and need fertilization 
after some time. 

High hammocks are the most desir- 
able lands in the State for general pur- 
poses of agriculture. They are covered 
with a growth of live oak, hickory and 
magnolia; and the surface is for the 
most part high, and gently undulating. 
The soil is exceedingly rich, and Avill 
produce all the crops of the country in 
a highly remunerative degree. Their 
productiveness is apparent from the fact 
that three hogsheads of sugar per acre 
have been made from them. The chief 
labor connected with their cultivation is 
the clearing. Once cleared, however, 
they are free from pernicious weeds and 
grasses, and but little labor is required 
in working them. These lands are very 
abundant. In Levy County alone there 
are over one hundred thousand acres of 
first-class hammock land; while in Leon, 
Gadsden, Jefierson, Jackson, Marion 
and Alachua Counties, they form the 
great bulk of the land, and can be pur- 



chased at from two to ten dollars per 
acre, according to the difierent stages of 
improvement. 

From this it will be clearly seen that 
the variety of soil in the State is amply 
sufficient to meet the preferences of all, 
and supply the requirements for nearly 
every character of husbandry. From 
the very wide scope which vegetation 
takes in the State, there is every oppor- 
tunity for selection of croj), and an 
abundance of the best land can be se- 
cured to meet such selection. The ham- 
mock lands produce abundantly of all 
crops adapted to this climate. Natur- 
ally, the first settlers select these lands 
that promise the greatest return for the 
least labor, and decry the high pine 
lands. It is underrating too much the 
resources of modern scientific agricul- 
ture not to believe these lands capable 
of producmg a fair profit in return for 
thorough cultivation. We know of re- 
peated instances where ordinary pine 
lands have been fertilized and cultivated 
in the manner that good farming is 
practised in other sections of the coun- 
try, and the returns have far exceeded 
that of any of the staple productions 
of the North. 

But the agricultural element of Flor- 
ida is as yet but a handful of men in an 
unbroken wilderness. They need help 
and co-oj^eration. There, beneath a 
summer sky, where food and warmth 
and shelter may be had at a minimum 
expenditure of labor, I would say to the 
hundreds of idle men in Northern cities, 
who are vainly seeking to bar the wolf 
of famine from one door, while trying to 
close the other against the rigors of an 
unsparing winter ; and to the thousands 
of farmers over the broad Territories of 
the West, who often brood over a deso- 
lation unequalled by the plagues of 
Egypt, what you most desire, Florida 
possesses abundantly. The labor that 



14 



DR. EIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



you can not utilize is her sorest need. 
But do not be deceived. I paint no 
Utopia. Though nature is beneficient 
in her genial climate, she will not open 
her treasures to the hand of idleness. 
Here, as elsewhere, the sturdy arm of 
labor is required to wrest from her grasp 
the riches of hidden harvests. 

The settler in Florida, particularly if 
from a Northern State, must remember 
that the conditions of agriculture there, 
are as different from those he has left as 
heat from cold. Many accede to this 
fact without realizing it. Because they 
do not find everywhere fields of grain 
and grass, they come to the conclusion 
that this is a poor country. It does not 
seem to occur to them that, because he 
has to buy his sugar and cotton cloth, 
he lives in a poor country. They do 
not think it strange that a man in Mas- 
sachusetts warms himself by a fire of 
coal from Pennsylvania, or that the 
shingles on his house were brought from 
the forests of Maine or Minnesota, and 
that the greater part of his grain and 
grass crop has to be exchanged for 
these things.' They look upon a field of 
sugar-cane or a grove of oranges as 
a curiosity, and not as so much money 
value return for labor. A cotton field 
is truly a novelty, but it does not 
appear to them in the light of a bill of 
exchange, which the Southern farmer 
turns at the nearest store for cash, or 
articles of need or luxury. With plenty 
of excellent fish in every water course; 
beef, venison, bear and small game, such 
as turkey, quail, curlew, snipe and ducks 
in their season in abundance, also oysters 
on the sea coast, and a climate fast be- 
coming recognized as unequalled by that 
of any other portion of the country, and 
is not surpassed by delicious Italy, what 
can man want under the sun else to 
make him happy, if he will surely exert 
himself to attain such blessings. 



; THE CLIMATE. 

The climate is the principal attraction 
to settlers and visitors ; it is in fact 
an insular climate ; the Atlantic Ocean 
on the east and the Gulf of Mexico 
on the west modify the air that blows 
over the peninsula, making it cooler 
in summer and warmer in winter; 
even in mid -summer the heat never 
reaches that extreme which is felt 
in higher latitudes, and during the 
year round it is the most agreeable and 
salubrious climate to be found on the 
Globe. The thermometer rarely falls 
below 30° in winter, or rises above 
90° in summer. During the winter 
the atmosphere is dry and elastic ; 
nearly six out of seven days are cloud- 
less ; and during the summer the nights 
are agreeably cool, it being rarely 
when one can sleep without the use of 
slight covering. 

Florida extends from the 25° to the 
31° north latitude, and lies within 80° 
and 88° west longitude from Green- 
wich ; thus comprising about six degrees 
of latitude and nearly eight of longitude. 
The State has been likened in shape to 
a boot, the peninsula constituting the 
leg, and the continental portion the foot, 
with the toe to the West. The middle 
and western divisions of the State, ex- 
cept near the coast, are elevated and 
generally rolling ; and this character of 
the country extends eastward beyond 
Lake City to the Little St. Mary's 
River. The country is also elevated 
and rolling down the middle and wes- 
tern slope of the peninsula to the 28° of 
latitude for the latter, and a little fur- 
ther south for the central ridge. From 
the St. Mary's River on the north, all 
along the eastern part of the State, the 
country is low and level beyond the 
head waters of the St. John's, and thus 
continues down the peninsula. The en- 
tire lower third of the peninsula is low 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



15 



and level, and covered with extensive 
savannahs, lakes and everglades. A 
slightly more elevated ridge near the 
coast, on each side, is to be found in this 
latter portion. 

Florida has no mountains, nor are 
there any in Georgia and Alabama of 
sufficient proximity to her borders to 
exercise any influence on her climate. 
In comparison with the St. John's, the 
other rivers wholly within her borders 
are small ; and while the majority, like 
the St. John's, have their sources in 
lakes and swamps, others appear to be 
entirely of subterranean origin. This 
latter feature is peculiarly characteristic 
of many short but bold and voluminous 
rivers along the gulf coast of the penin- 
sula, between the mouth of the Withla- 
coochie and Tampa Bay. Some smaller 
streams of a similar subterranean origin 
are to be found on the western side of 
the St. John's, into v/hich they empty. 
In the elevated and rolling sections, 
most of the rain water escapes through 
subterranean passages found in sink- 
holes, into which lead one or more 
ditch-like ravines with numerous tribu- 
taries. The soil is mostly a silicious 
sand, loose and porous in elevated sec- 
tions, fine and compact in those low and 
level. In some localities in Middle and 
West Florida there is some clay soil. 

Exposed as Florida is on the east to 
the Atlantic and on the south and west 
to the Gulf of IMexico, and having a 
large area of level country on the north, 
her climate, owing to frequent changes 
in the direction of the wind, may be 
considered rather variable during winter 
and spring as regards transitions of tem- 
perature. During March, 1873, the 
minimum temperature at Punta Rossa 
was 38°, a degree of cold sufficient for 
light frost in the interior elevated dis- 
tricts. At the same place in December, 
1872, the minimum was 35°, which 



may be considered as fully representino- 
a light frost in the interior. A tempera- 
ture of freezing, 32°, for March has oc- 
casionally occurred at Tampa, and light 
frosts for the same month are almost an 
annual occurrence. The average mini- 
mum temperature at Tampa, for winter, 
for a period of twelve years, is 34° 4'; 
though the thermometer may some win- 
ters fall even below 30°. It was down 
to 30° in 1843, 1849 and 1852. In 
1857 the thermometer fell to 26° at 
Tampa, 32° at Fort Myers, 29° at 
Fort Pierce on Indian River, and to 
30° at Fort Dallas on the Miami. In 
1835 the thermometer is said to have 
fallen at Fort King, near Beala, one 
degree north of Tampa, to 11°, or 
21° below freezing. At the same date 
it is reputed to have fallen to 7° in the 
latitude of St. Augustine, and that all 
kinds of fruit trees were killed in the 
ground and extensive orange groves 
destroyed; 

Remembering that Fort Dallas is 
low down on the eastern coast of the 
peninsula, below the 26th degree of 
latitude, it becomes very questionable 
whether there is any part of the penin- 
sula universally exempt from frost, 
though still of not sufficient intensity to 
materially affect tropical plants. Such 
depressions are never of much intensity, 
however, south of the 29th degree of 
latitude as to jeopardize bearing sweet 
orange trees, though sometimes fatal to 
those of only a few years' growth, and 
such perennial tropical plants as the 
banana, pineapple, etc. In these un- 
usual depressions, however, this climate 
forms no exception, as the same thing 
does occur in the milder temperate lati- 
tudes of the eastern hemisphere. 

The maximum temperature of summer 
generally ranges from 92° to 95°, rarely 
exceeding the latter except in the north- 
ern part of the State. This fact is so 



16 



DR. BIOBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



contrary to the impression generally en- 
tertained by the public outside of the 
State, that to many the statement ap- 
pears at first incredible. It need not 
appear so strange, however, when it is 
remembered that in the north temperate 
zone the days are longer and the nights 
shorter during summer as we advance 
from the lower to the higher latitudes, 
and that consequently the rays of heat 
from the sun are longer concentrated on 
the earth's surface with a proportionately 
shorter night for cooling by radiation. 
The reverse being the case in winter, it 
is thus that an equal distribution of heat 
for the year in the lower and higher 
latitudes of the same zone is insured, the 
■winter deficiency being compensated by 
the summer excess. 

The regular alternation of the land 
and sea breezes, the latter being the 
cooler by several degrees, greatly amel- 
iorates also the summer heat of Florida, 
and marked so all along her extensive 
coast. The climate of Florida is re- 
markably equable and proverbially 
agreeable, being subject to fewer atmo- 
spheric variations, and its thermometric 
ranges much less than any other part of 
the United States, except a portion of 
the coast of California. 

Another element to be considered is 
humidity of the atmosphere, and the 
amount of rainfill. Regarding the hu- 
midit}'- of the atmosphere, the amount 
of data is so imperfect, and the positions 
of the few signal stations too unlike and 
peculiar individually to allow of any at- 
tempt at generalization. Yet their gen- 
eral tendency is to correct an erroneous 
impression entertained by some, that 
there is greater humidity for the winter 
the lower the peninsula is descended. 
The mean monthly percentage of rela- 
tive humidity gives pretty nearly tlie 
same for all four signal stations. But it 
must be evident that that for Puuta 



liossa— from its littoral position — can 
not be considered as fairly representing 
the interior of the peninsula, from the 
greater humidity of the atmosphere al- 
ways present on the coast. While there 
is no great variation from the annual 
mean for any season, yet spring shows 
the least percentage. The relative per- 
centage of humidity is, however, not in 
excess of that of the Atlantic States, nor 
of California during winter, as observed 
at San Francisco and San Diego, so far 
as a cursory examination enables me to 
judge. The saline impregnation of this 
moisture, arising from the Atlantic and 
the Gulf, doubtless' imparts to it also 
antiseptic and salubrious properties. 

The rainfall in Florida is not charac- 
terized by uniformity as to amount for 
different years and same seasons, nor as 
regards sections and localities. This var- 
iation from the mean is greater in excess 
than deficiency. In 1840 the rainfall 
at Tampa was 89 inches, and in 1854, 
G9 inches, yet the minimum rainfall has 
never been below 40 inches during the 
same period of observation. Again, at 
Pensacola, in 1875, it amounted to 77 
inches. The exposed position of St. 
Augustine immediately on the Atlantic, 
accovuits to some extent for the smaller 
average rainfall at that place as com- 
pared with other points in the State. 
The same applies to Punta Rossa as a 
signal station, though hardly with equal 
force, as the latter is not quite so ex- 
posed to the open sea. The well-known 
fact that there is less rain on the coast 
than in the interior is a sufficient explan- 
ation. The rain is not equally distribu- 
ted through the year, but is so much 
frequenter in summer as to specially 
denominate that the rainy season. 

From a close comparison of data, I 
find that as a rule the summer rain in 
Florida is three times more than that of 
winter. This, taken in connection with 



DR. EIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



the mean annual rainliall of the Atlantic 
Gulf States and the ■winter rainfall of 
the Pacific States, demonstrates the win- 
ter climate of Florida to be a compara- 
tively dry one, especially that of the 
peninsula. As nearly all the ports 
where meteorological observations were 
made are on the peninsula, it is presum- 
able that this estimate more fully repre- 
sents that section than it does the north- 
ern portions of the State. It is only the 
peninsular portion of the State that has 
a climate of its own, markedly different 
and distinct from that of the northern 
portions of the State, which possess no 
distinctive features from similar sec- 
tions, contiguous to the coast, of the 
other Gulf States. The winter climate 
of the peninsula is dry, and this dryness 
becomes more marked as the peninsula 
is descended. 

When the climate of Florida is com- 
pared with that of any other of the 
United States, its superiority becomes 
apparent. As to dryness of winter cli- 
mate, the peninsula compares favorably 
with Lower California. If compared to 
the drier ones of Arizona, New Mex- 
ico and the lower Rio Grande, we find 
there a greater thermometric range, 
a less equable temperature with a lower 
mean, and much greater summer heat. 
And considering the soil of those wes- 
tern dry sections, it is evident that this 
arid condition of their atmosj)here must, 
of itself, be a very serious drawback. 
The soil being sandy, and in many 
places alkaline, can not fail to charge 
the air with fine particles of dust, which 
would prove more or less injurious to 
the lungs. 

The climate of Florida may really be 
classed as comprising two seasons, — 
eight months of summer and four of 
warm weather. But it must be borne in 
mind that, with the summer in Florida 
is not to be associated the extreme heat 
2 



which characterizes not only the other 
Southern States, but the Northern 
States also. At no time within a period 
extending back for twenty years, has 
the thermometer thus indicated an ex- 
treme of heat as great by several de- 
grees as that of any other of the South- 
ern States, and many of the Northern 
States. During the memorable hot sea- 
son of 1872, when the thermometer in 
New York, Boston, and other places 
farther north showed occasionally a tem- 
perature of 104 degrees, the highest 
range attained in Florida was only 96 ; 
and only twice was it observed at this 
hight. Then, if we take the mean 
average range throughout the entire 
summer, it will be found that it is only 
a few degrees higher than that of the 
Northern States. 

The northern tier of counties are visi- 
ted by frost occasionally in the winter, 
but it is generally very slight. It ap- 
pears there usually in December, and 
seldom shows itself later than the middle 
of February. The central counties are 
visited also by frost, but its presence is 
rather Avelcome than otherwise. The 
southern counties however, are entirely 
exempt from it, and tropical fruits, the 
most sensitive to cold, flourish there 
unmolested. A dish of strawberries, or 
a plate of green peas grown in the open 
air in the month of January, can not 
but present evidence, as convincing as 
it is agreeable, of the salubrity of the 
climate, while the presence of trees and 
shrubs in full foliage, and gardens filled 
with thrifty vegetables at a time when 
all nature is wrapped at the North in a 
winding sheet of snow, bespeak climatic 
conditions understood by all. To those 
who have become tired of the rigors of 
the northern winters, or seek an escape 
from the extremes of both heat and cold, 
Florida ofiers a geniality and grateful- 
ness of climate that is unsurpassed. 



18 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPEBS ON FLORIDA. 



HEALTHFULNESS. 

The healthfulness of Florida is one of 
its chief characteristics, ami its sanative 
influences are so well recop-nized, that it 
has become of late yeai-s a kind of 
asylum for invalids from all parts of the 
country. Nowhere in the State do you 
meet among the native population, or 
those who have resided in the State any 
length of time, those violent forms of 
disease which are met with in all the 
other States. It is true you meet the 
consumptive, the rheumatic, the dys- 
peptic and the debilitated, but in almost 
every instance they are strangers to the 
soil, and have sought the State to bask 
in its sunshine and drink in the life- 
giving influences with which its air is 
laden. Of course in a country exhibit- 
ing such an exuberance of vegetation 
as Florida, and where the breath of 
winter is scarcely felt, the presence of 
malaria is to be expected ; but the di- 
seases arising from malarial influences 
are limited to the very mildest forms of 
fevers and bilious complaints. There 
are no such uncomfortable and danger- 
ous symptons of malarial poisoning met 
with in Florida as manifest themselves 
in various parts of the States of New 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and 
Indiana, Bilious fever of a remittent 
character is prevalent, but it yields 
readily to proper treatment. Intermit- 
tent fever is also common, but it is 
rarely attended with dangerous results, 
as the mode of treatment is well under- 
stood. But in many parts of the State 
even these forms of fever are unknown. 
St. Augustine has long enjoyed an ex- 
emption from all malarial fevers. Jack- 
sonville is equally favored. In Pensa- 
cola malarial fevers are seldom met 
with in the practice of the city physi- 
cians. In fact, at scarcely any point 
along the Atlantic coast are malarial 
fevers troublesome. In many parts, too, 



of the interior the inhabitants enjoy the 
same exemption. In any case, from my 
observation, the tourist or settler may 
rely on it that he is no more liable to 
suffer from fever in Florida than in any 
other section of the country. 

For consumptives, or those suflfering 
from chronic disorders of the mucous 
membranes, whether of the air passages 
or of the digestive organs, Florida pre- 
sents an asylum such as no other part of 
the United States can furnish. There is 
not a case in which a warm, moist air is 
needed to soothe and quiet the lungs 
and throat, in which the climate of 
Florida will not prove a specific, — and 
in nine-tenths of the cases this is what is 
demanded. There are some cases in 
which a dry atmosphere is preferable, 
but even in these the interior part of 
the State — Gainesville for instance — 
oflfers every possible chance for a cure of 
the disease. The curative, or at least, 
palliative properties of certain prepara- 
tions of the pine tree, so well known to 
resident physicians, assisting in a great 
measure the entire recovery. Here are 
vast forests of pines, breathing forth 
their balm till the whole air is fragrant 
with it, and if there is a possibility of 
relief for the unfortunate victim of con- 
sumption, this, in conjunction with the 
genial sunshine and soft, balmy atmos- 
phere, will effect it. Any amount of 
testimony could be given as to the cura- 
tive effects of the climate here on con- 
sumptives. There are thousands of in- 
dividuals throughout the State enjoying 
excellent health, and the prospect of 
long lives, who were the most un- 
doubted victims of the disease, and 
who would have been in their graves 
had they not changed their Northern 
homes for homes in the State. Of 
course there are a great many Avho go 
only to find their graves. They have 
lingered at the North until the disease 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



19 



has fostered itself upon their vitals 
beyond the possibility of recovery. 
Their skeleton forms may be seen every 
day. They go to that State expecting 
the climate to work a miracle upon them 
— a miracle no less stupendous than life 
from the dead. To such I have only a 
few words to say — stay at home. 

To the invalid I would further say, 
there is danger, however, in this balmy 
climate — you may feel too well, and, 
forgetting the almanac, come home too 
soon. And this is the true reason why 
many are rather injured than benefitted 
by a winter in Florida — they come home 
too soon. One really becomes confused 
about the seasons ; summer and winter 
are so jumbled together that, between 
the almanac and the weather, you are 
completely confused. You date your 
letters "January," and yet you are sit- 
ting by an open window without a fire, 
and feel as though May had come ; you 
have had so long a spring that you 
think it must surely be midsummer; 
feeling well, you start homeward, and 
find that at your journey's end you have 
left May behind and gotten into Jan- 
uary. Your frame rendered more 
susceptible to cold by the winter's 
warmth which you have been enjoying, 
is easily affected, and -you suffer by the 
change, and suffer severely. Go to 
Florida as fast as you choose — but, if 
you value life, come away slowly ; it is 
a dangerous climate for the invahd to 
leave. Feel your way home gradually ; 
judge by your sensation, and journey 
accordingly; go to Savannah, then to 
Charleston, then to Aiken ; then halt, 
and read the papers to learn whether 
there has been snow about the lakes. 
If there has, wait until the snow melts, 
and the blue birds begin to sing, then 
proceed leisurely, and let June find you 
in your, northern home. A better plan 
perhaps would be to follow the straw- 



berries. In early April you will find 
them abundant in Tallahassee, march 
with their ripening, and come slowly 
North, eating as you go. By the Avay, 
no fruit is better for the invalid ; and 
although God could assuredly make a 
better berry, yet he certainly never did. 
Travelers, invalids especially, should 
have an almanac of leaves, flowers and 
fruits as guides and regulators of tem- 
perature. 

The climate of Florida is also well 
adapted for the cure of rheumatism ; in 
fact it may be regarded as a specific for 
this disease. By a regular warmth of 
the body, the skin is kept in a continual 
moisture, and the pores are thus ren- 
dered active, and the disease is elim- 
inated and the pains lessened. Again, 
under this condition the fibrine in the 
blood is diminished, and the secretions 
of all the organs of the body are in- 
creased. Add to these influences the 
bathing in the tepid Sulphur Springs, 
and the cure is complete. 

I will conclude this topic with the 
following extract fi-om Surgeon-General 
Lawson's late report of the health of 
Florida compared with other States : 

"The statistics collected by this Bu- 
reau demonstrate fully the fact that the 
diseases resulting from malaria are of a 
much milder type in the peninsula of 
Florida than in any other State of the 
Union. These records show that the 
ratio of deaths to the number of cases 
has been much less than among the 
troops serving in any other portion of 
the United States. In the Middle Di- 
vision of the United States the propor- 
tion is one death in thirty-six cases ; in 
the Northern Division, one to fifty-two; 
in the Southern Division, one to fifty- 
four ; in Texas, one to seventy-eight ; 
in California, one to one hundred and 
twenty-two ; in New Mexico, one to 
one hundred and forty-eight ; while in 



20 



DB. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



Florida it is but one to two hundied 
and eighty-seven. The general health- 
fulness of Florida, particularly on its 
coast, is proverbial. The average an- 
nual mortality of the whole peninsula, 
from returns in this office, is found to 
be 2.0G per cent., while in the other 
divisions of the United States it is 3.05 
per cent. In short, it may be asserted 
without fear of refutation, that Florida 
possesses a much more healthy, agree- 
able and salubrious climate than any 
other state or Territory in the Union." 

AREA AND DISPOSITION OF LANDS. 

Florida contains an area of 59,268 
square miles, or 37,931,520 acres. Very 
large concessions of these lands have 
been made to the State by Congress for 
works of internal improvement. Ac- 
cording to the record of the Land 
Office, there have been sold 1,832,431 
acres ; entered under the homestead law, 
389,147 acres; granted for military ser- 
vices, 465,942 acres ; officially approved 
under railroad grants, 1,760,468 acres ; 
approved as lands given to the State, 
10,901,207 acres ; granted for internal 
improvements, 500,000 acres ; granted 
for schools and universities, 1,000,663 
acres ; granted to individuals and com- 
panies; 52,114 acres; granted for deaf 
and dumb asylums, 20,954 acres; and 
confirmed private land claims, 3,784,303 
acres. The quantity of land remaining 
unsold. 17,202,459 acres. 

PRICES OF LAND, HOMESTEAD LANDS, &C. 

Lands can be purchased in the State 
at from seventy -five cents to one hun- 
dred dollars per acre. Of course, where 
land commands the latter price, it is lo- 
cated near cities or towns, is highly im- 
proved, or is particularly desirable for 
orange culture. The State has nearly 
seven millions of acres of what are 
known as swamp lands. (See under 
article on soil.) These lands are intrin- 
sically the most valuable in the State, 



and can be purchased for seventy cents 
per acre, and can be had in quantities 
to suit the purchaser. In addition, the 
State has 220,000 acres of land known 
as internal improvement land, which 
can be bought at from ^1.25 to S^S.OO 
per acre. Then there are 600,000 acres 
of school and seminary land, subject to 
sale at $1.25 per acre. The number of 
acres belonging to the General Govern- 
ment is over seventeen millions. This 
land can only be secured by homestead 
entry. It is nearly all first-class land, 
and as the immigrant can get possession 
of 160 acres by paying the sum of 
$14.00 at the time of entry, it is ex- 
ceedingly desirable to all whose avail- 
able resources may be limited. Im- 
proved lands, that is, those having 
buildings and farms erected thereon, 
can be purchased in almost any part of 
the State at from $2 to $10 per acre, 
and there is a vast quantity of unim- 
proved lands in the hands of individuals 
which are held at prices varying from 
fifty cents to $10 per acre. The rail- 
road lands, given by the State and 
the United States to aid in their con- 
struction, are held at $1.00 to $1.50 per 
acre. 

Much of the finest lands in the State 
are in the hands of parties, or their heirs, 
who obtained them from the Spanish 
and English Governments. They are 
known as Spanish and English grants, 
the validity of the titles to which has 
been recognized by the Courts of the 
United States. The land covered by 
these grants, is held at from $1 to $10 
per acre. 

Thus it will be seen that land can be 
had at almost any price to suit the re- 
sources of the immigrant. There need 
be no drawback on this account, for in 
no other sections of the country can 
land be purchased at more reasonable 
rates. 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



21 



TAXATION, AND THE FINANCIAL CONDI- 
TION OF THE STATE. 

Of course these are topics of great im- 
portance. Florida is not exempt from 
taxes. There, as almost everywhere 
else, taxes are complained of as heavy, 
but a careful comparison between the 
rate of taxation there and in the other 
States of the Union, places the State in 
a very favorable light. From the most 
reliable statistics it is seen that the rate 
of taxation per capita is higher in thirty 
States of the Union than Florida. As 
a consequence, the share of the burden 
imposed by taxation, which falls to each 
individual, is lighter there than in most 
of the other States ; and it is not lighter 
by a fraction of a dollar merely, but com- 
pared with three-fourths of the States it 
is a great deal lighter. For instance : 
The rate of taxation per capita in New 
York is seventeen dollars ; in Connecti- 
cut, eleven ; in New Hampshire, ten ; 
in Rhode Island, nine ; in Ohio, eight ; 
in Iowa, seven ; in Pennsylvania, six ; 
in Kentucky and Missouri, four ; while 
in Florida it is only two dollars and 
sixty cents. 

According to the statistics of the 
State, the property-holder has the priv- 
ilege of fixing the value of his pro- 
perty. The amount levied as the State 
tax for the past year was about thirteen 
mills on the dollar, — $1.30 on every 
$100. 00. Besides this, property in the 
State is liable to a school and county tax 
of one cent on the dollar. This would 
make an aggregate tax of $2.30 on 
every §100.00. This compares favora- 
bly Avith other States. 

Much has been said, and much has 
got abroad, which is false concerning 
the financial standing of Florida. The 
State has been represented as hopelessly 
bankrupt, without credit, and without 
a dollar in her treasury. This has been 
entirely the work of partisanship, and 



has no foundation in fact. The follow- 
ing items from the late Comptroller's 
report, will exhibit the true financial 
condition of the State : 

There are outstanding $220,506.77 of 
Comptroller's warrants and Treasurer's 
certificates, bearing no interest, receiv- 
able for taxes, which will be absorbed 
by the taxes collected this year. 

The act of 1873 authorized the issue 
of $1,000,000 of bonds, bearing 6 per 
cent, gold interest, and maturing in 
thirty years, $500,000 to be sold at not 
less than 80 cents net. Of these, the 
$265,000 mentioned above have been 
sold, and 379 of the hypothecated bonds 
of 1868 and 1869 have been redeemed 
and cancelled, and the rest under hy- 
pothecation will be redeemed Avhen 
presented. 

There remains $235,000 of the gold 
bonds to be sold. When this is accom- 
plished, and the other $500,000 of these 
bonds are applied to the redemption of 
the outstanding bonds named in the act, 
then the debt will be as follows : 

Bonds of 1871, $350,000. 

Bonds of 1873, 1,000,000. 

School and seminary debt, 262,045. 

Total, $1,612,045. 

A tax of four mills upon the dollar is 
levied upon the real and personal pro- 
perty of the State to pay interest upon 
and form a sinking fund for the re- 
demption of the bonds of 1873, and this 
tax can be applied to no other purpose. 
The valuation of taxable property 
being $30,000,000, there will be levied 
a tax of $120,000 for this purpose; 
allowing very liberally for delinquency. 
This will pay the interest and form 
a sinking fund of at least two per cent, 
upon the principal of the bonds, and at 
the present increase in improvements 
throughout the State, with the constant 
increase of taxable improvements, will 



22 



DE. EIGBY'S PAPERS OX FLORIDA. 



swell this amount so that the sinking 
fund will bo sufficient to call in bonds 
before maturity. 

The Comptroller is directed by law of 
1871 to apportion annually among the 
several counties such an amount as will 
pay the interest and one per cent, of the 
principal of the bonds of 1871. 

One hundred and thirty-two thousand 
dollars of the bonds known as "out- 
standing bonds," are held by the Indian 
Trust Funds in Washington, and the 
claims of the State of Florida against 
the United States during the Indian 
war will be sufficient to extinguish this 
amount at maturity. 

In 1870 the State loaned its credit to 
the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile 
Railroad Company by the issue of bonds 
to the amount of $4,000,000, taking a 
first mortgage for a similar amount 
upon the road as security, of which 
amount about $3,000,000 have been 
sold. 

No other bonds in aid of railroads are 
oustanding, and no more will be issued, 
as an act entitled "An act relating to 
the indebtedness of the State" prohibits 
the further issuing of bonds for any 
purpose whatever. 

There is no State on a sounder basis 
than Florida is at present, and with the 
high standard of the incoming popula- 
tion, it is probable that she may become 
in future a pattern for sister States. 

COLORED LABOR. 

To those who are seeking an oppor- 
tunity to invest capital in the South, 
and who may have their eyes turned 
toward the advantages offered in Flor- 
ida, the character of the labor available 
must be a matter of no little importance. 
As throughout most of the other South- 
ern States, the labor on which the 
capitalist must depend for the develop- 
ment of his schemes is colored labor. In 



spite of the slanders of his enemies, time 
and experience, which prove, all things, 
have demonstrated that the South will 
have to rely on the colored man to sup- 
ply the bone and sinew for the develop- 
ment of her resources. No other char- 
acter of labor has yet been found to take 
the place of colored labor, and the num- 
erous expei'iments which have been 
made in white labor of different nation- 
alities, though hailed at first as giving 
great promise of success, have not met 
the expectations of the experimenters, 
but have in every instance operated to 
render more clear and incontestible the 
superiority of colored labor there and 
throughout the South. His habits, his 
nature, his temperament, his training, 
and the conditions of climate are all in 
favor of the colored man, and give him 
the advantage over all other competitors. 
It has been said flippantly by politi- 
cians and detractors of the colored man 
that he will not work, that he is hope- 
lessly lazy, and that his conception of 
freedom is exemption from toil. This 
has been said in a general way ; but un- 
fortunately for the truth of the reproach, 
his culminators have never been able to 
bring their assertions under the dominion 
of facts to prove that it is so. There are 
thousands of lazy white persons in the 
Southern States, who loaf about the 
corners of the streets, drinking whiskey 
and talking perpetually of enterprise 
coming down South — as if enterprise 
were something to be brought in a box 
and opened in their midst — and who are 
ever ready to declaim on the laziness of 
the "cussed niggers." But this charge 
has never assumed a more specific form, 
and is never made by any only known 
opponents of the political equality of the 
colored man. The fact is, that notwith- 
standing all the disadvantages he lias 
had to contend with, the colored man 
has given since his emancipation the 



DE. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



23 



most positive and surprising proof of his 
industry— an industry that is constantly 
increasing, and that has supplied him 
with comforts, enabled him to build 
churches, found charitable institutions 
of his own, and exhibits itself to-day in 
the vast bulk of the agricultural pro- 
ducts of the South. Nothing was heard 
of laziness of the colored man before his 
emancipation. He was then made to 
work ; but if he is lazy now, how is it 
that there has been no falling off in the 
productions of the South, but on the 
contrary a vast increase under many 
heads ? Two of the pet-theories of the 
pro-slavery advocates during the war 
were the degeneracy of the colored man, 
upon gaining his freedom, into a lazy, 
good-for-nothing vagabond, and, as a 
necessary sequence, the extinction of his 
race. Are there any so dishonest or ig- 
norant who will not say that never have 
theories received such a signal refutation 
by facts as these ? I do not contend 
that the colored man is a model of indus- 
try, but I contend that he is not lazy, 
and that the true and highest interest 
of the South lies in fostering his assist- 
ance, and in the spirit of justice and 
humanity enabling him to work out the 
problem of his progress. 

Where it is found that the colored 
man will not work, if pains are taken to 
inquire into the circumstances, it will 
very generally be found also that his 
unwillingness proceeds from a suspicion 
that his wages are precarious or a con- 
viction that they are insufficient. There 
are few white laborers who would mani- 
fest great alacrity in going to work 
under such impressions. Where wages 
are in a fair degree remunerative and 
certain, the colored man is ready to do 
what he can do, and do it with all his 
might. How he nerves himself to such 
ill-paid labor as falls to his lot is a 
matter for surprise ; and surprise be- 



comes astonishment when we think of 
the results which he achieves out of his 
scanty earnings. He pays doctor's bills, 
provides clothing for himself and wife, 
supports the non-producing members of 
his family, gives to his church and 
to charitable institutions, and, in short, 
manifests a careful and exacting econ- 
omy entirely at variance with habits of 
indolence or laziness. This thriiliness 
on the part of the colored man has been 
one of the greatest boons to the South. 
It has enabled him to exist on the 
smallest possible allowance ; and at no 
time since the war have the resources of 
planters been much more than equal to 
discharge the minimum of expense, and 
must have fallen far short of meeting 
their obligations if the work done had 
been performed at the prices demanded 
for white labor. Colored labor is the 
cheapest, and therefore just the kind 
suited to the South, especially in its 
present condition. This fact must 
weight also with capitalists, for other 
things being equal, the returns from an 
investment must increase in proportion 
to the cheapness of the labor employed. 
The day is not far distant Avhen a 
proper value will be put on colored 
labor throughout the South, and when 
it will meet with a much better reward 
than at present. Instead of degenera- 
ting into a vagabond or a barbarian, 
according to the speculations of his de- 
tractors, the colored man is to-day ful- 
filling the expectations of his friends, 
surprising those who, wishing him well, 
had yet pitifully distrusted him in his 
new career, and is giving the very best 
answer to his culminators by his indus- 
try, self-reliance, and other great proofs 
of progress, against which no misrepre- 
sentation can long prevail. 

THE LUMBER TRADE. 

First in the list of Florida's produc- 
tions I place lumber, as it holds at 



24 



DE. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



present the first rank among the indus- 
tries of the State, whether v,e consider 
the amount of capital involved, the 
value of the material produced, or the 
extent of the resources from which it is 
drawn. It can be asserted with confi- 
dence that over, no other State in the 
Union is valuable timber so extensively 
and uniformly distributed, and ere long, 
the lumber business of that State, with- 
out the slightest doubt, will rival in ex- 
tent that of any other. Within the last 
few years the manufacture of lumber 
has received an enormous impetus in 
that State, consequent upon a more 
thorough knowledge and recognition of 
her vast timber resources, and now the 
trade assumes gigantic proportions, with 
an almost unlimited power of expansion. 
When any one contemplates, in the light 
of knowledge, the astonishing wealth of 
that State in timber, the question at once 
arises : Why has it remained so long 
almost untouched, and less favored por- 
tions of the country sought after for the 
supply of lumber? Hitherto, nearly all 
the yellow-pine flooring consumed in the 
great cities of the North has been ob- 
tained from South and North Carolina. 
But at no time in their history have 
these States contained a tithe of the 
pine lumber of superior quality to be 
found in Florida. It is by no means an 
exaggeration when I put the estimate of 
heavy pine forests in the State as cover- 
ing an area of thirty to forty thousand 
square miles. The resources of the State 
in this may be said to be almost inex- 
haustible, and the superior quality of 
the lumber is attested by the fact that 
it commands in market ten per cent, 
advance over that of any other section. 
The highly deserved reputation of the 
pine lumber furnished by the forests of 
that State is attracting the attention of 
capitalists in all parts of the country ; 
and besides those already established. 



some of the most gigantic enterprises, 
designed to take advantage of the re- 
sources of the State in this, are in con- 
templation. Some idea of the present 
magnitude of the trade may be had 
from two facts, which we will state. 
The saw-mills in the vicinity of Jack- 
sonville, and those at Ellaville on the 
line of the Jacksonville, Pensacola and 
Mobile Railroad, manufacture annually 
over one hundred million feet of lum- 
ber ; while the mills in the vicinity of 
Pensacola manufacture close on to three 
hundred million superficial feet. The 
value of the lumber and timber ex- 
ported at Pensacola annually is esti- 
mated at over $3,000,000, and the 
amount of capital employed $5,000,000. 
Kecently very large mills have been 
erected at Aj^alachicola, which promise 
to do a business in a short time equal to 
that of either of the ports named, while 
on every navigable water-course and 
line of railroad, saw-mills are springing 
up with every prospect of yielding im- 
mense revenues to the i:>roprietors. But 
notwithstanding these facts, the trade 
may be regarded as still in its infancy, 
for, by far the finest and most eligible 
lumbering sites remain unnoticed and 
untouched. 

The finest pine forests are to be found 
in West Florida. Santa Rosa, Walton, 
Washington and Holmes Counties are 
covered with a growth of the best 
yellow-pine timber to be found on the 
continent. In 1867 Mi-. Judah, a well 
known and highly competent engineer, 
was employed by the Jacksonville, Pen- 
sacola and Mobile Railroad Company to 
survey the route for the extension of 
their line of road from the Apalachicola 
River to Pensacola. Under their char- 
ter, the completion of the road to the 
latter point would entitle the company 
to 500,000 acres of. United States lands 
and 100,000 acres of State lands, and 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPEBS ON FLOBIDA. 



25 



Mr. Judah, in estimating the resources 
of the road, of course includes the value 
of the timber on the 600,000 acres of 
land, and from his report we can get a 
very clear idea of this section in this re- 
spect. He says nearly the entire body of 
these lands is covered with a dense 
growth of yellow-pine timber of a quality 
unsurpassed by that of any other State in 
the Union. The principal lumber trade 
of this section is carried on from Santa 
Rosa County, (and in fact the principal 
lumber trade of Florida), nearly the en- 
tire population of which is engaged in and 
dependent upon this trade for their sup- 
port. Some of the largest and finest 
saw-mills anywhere to be found in the 
United States are in operation in this 
county, the principal among which are 
located upon the Blackwater River, in 
the vicinity of the town of Milton, which 
is situated near the mouth of the Black- 
water and at. the head of the navigable 
waters of Pensacola Bay. 

The amount of lumber shipped from 
this district is over 50,000,000 feet per 
annum, yielding upward of $500,000 
to the manufacturers, and costing the 
mill-owners, delivered in the log, up- 
wards of §40,000. The logs to supply 
their lumber are principally cut upon 
the margins of the Blackwater and Yel- 
lowwater Rivers and their tributaries. 
, The cutters seldom go further than one 
and a half miles back from the margins 
of the rivers. The timber on the mar- 
gins of the rivers is smaller than that 
growing further back. 

These logs contain an average of 
about 200 feet when cut into lumber. 
The minimum limit of size is that the 
logs be large enough to square one foot. 
It is estimated that the logs at a distance 
of six to ten miles from the river will 
average about 250 B. M. feet. 

Trees will furnish from two to three 
logs per tree, but for purposes of this 



estimate, they are considered to yield 
two logs per tree. The mills generally 
buy their logs by contract, paying $4 
per M. feet for them delivered. Those 
mills cutting their own logs from lands 
owned by themselves find that it costs 
them about the same price. The timber 
on these lands seems inexhaustible. 
The average number of trees per acre 
fit for saw-logs is estimated at twenty. 
Now if you cut one tree per acre every 
year on the route of this road, it will 
afford an annual yield of 300,000,000 
feet, or about 1,000,000 feet per day, 
which would tax this railroad to its ut- 
most capacity, giving about 3,000 tons 
per day, or nearly 1,000,000 tons per 
year. 

It is also the fact that timber makes 
anew again in from twenty to twenty- 
five years ; or that after going over a 
body of timber, cutting off" that large 
enough for saw-logs, leaving the smaller 
timber ; this smaller timber will have 
grown sufficiently in from twenty to 
twenty-five years to yield another supply 
equal to the first. 

Spar timber exists nowhere in greater 
abundance, or of better quality than 
upon these lands. Heavy European 
contracts have been filled from this 
locality, and contracts can be obtained 
to any extent that can be filled. Good 
spars bring from $100 to S300 each. 
Reliable parties who have traversed 
these lands have asserted that they have 
seen lands where twelve timber spars 
could be cut from an acre. 

But besides the pine, great varieties 
of the most valuable timber are to be 
found distributed all over the State, and 
capable of being worked up and put 
upon the market with highly remuner- 
ative results. The live and water-oaks 
of the State have a world-wide reputa- 
tion, and though the demand of ship- 
building throughout the entire country 



26 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



and ia many parts of Europe have for 
many years been supplied from the for- 
ests of that State, its resources in this 
are apparently untouched. The cedar 
swamps of Florida are at the present 
time supplying most of the pencil man- 
ufactories of this continent, and the de- 
mand is greater than the amount brought 
into market ; while the immense quanti- 
ties of cypress to be found scattered all 
over the peninsula promise to furnish 
the most desirable railroad ties that can 
be found. Then, for the manufacture of 
furniture, sashes, blinds, wagons and 
woodenware of every description, there 
is an unlimited amount of red bay, 
cherry, white oak, ash, birch, hickory, 
gum, elm, and a number of other 
equally valuable species of timber. No 
other State is as well timbered as Flor- 
ida, and nowhere else can the lumber- 
man look for an opportunity to invest 
capital with as fair prospects of realizing 
a fortune. 

AGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE. 

There is no State in the Union with 
resources so varied ; none presenting 
such a field for new and promising 
enterprise. Competition is possible with 
the sea-islands in oranges, bananas and 
other fruits, and with New York and 
Michigan in apples and other fruits on 
the tablelands of the Alleghanies. More 
than half the value of all cotton exports 
is paid for imports of sugar, which could 
and all should be grown in that State. 
The demand of the world for oils — cot- 
ton, rape, Palma Christi and many 
other oils — is large, and prices are re- 
munerative, and this State is peculiarly 
adapted to their production. A million 
pounds of cheese, to compete with an 
equal quantity in New York without 
danger of glutting the market, could be 
made from grass of the glades that grow 
on lands costing one-twentieth the value 
of Empire State pastures. Ev^en the 



forest lands — certainly those of the coast 
belt — are covered with wild grass, only 
partly utilized, which, in connection 
with the herbage of the prairie sections, 
are worth, in flesh and wool, at a 
meagre estimate half of the cotton crop. 
The soil and climate of Florida, taking 
the difi'erent portions of the State into 
consideration, will produce abundant 
crops of almost every variety of the 
vegetable kingdom raised throughout 
the world, but the principal crops are 
sugar-corn, corn, sweet potatoes, Irish 
potatoes, oranges and lemons. Of 
course, garden truck can not be ex- 
celled, and in most instances a second 
crop can be raised the same year. 

With the introduction of improved 
agricultural machinery, and well-di- 
rected and persistent labor, this is a 
large field for agricultural industry. 

SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING. 

I have hitherto spoken only of agri- 
cultural industry. The suggestions rel- 
ative to the necessity of other produc- 
tive industries in the West apply with 
augmented force to the South. While 
the population engaged in them ranges 
from fourteen per cent, in Iowa to 
twenty-four in Ohio, it runs from three 
per cent, in Mississippi to six per cent, 
in Georgia. The intelligent planter of 
Georgia knows perfectly well, by the 
test of local experience, that the manu- 
facture of cotton in his State is far 
more remunerative than the same busi- 
ness in Massachusetts, not only on ac- 
count of saving freight and commission 
both on raw material and manufactured 
goods, but in the great abundance and 
cheapness of labor. It might be con- 
sidered a fair division of the crop, and 
certainly a generous one on the part of 
the South, to keep one-third for home 
manufacture, to send a third to the 
North for the manufacture of finer 
goods, and the remaining third to 



DR. EIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



27 



Europe. This would insure a steady 
and imperative demand, and 'a great 
enlargement of net profits. If they could 
do this without a tariff, they can afford 
,to let the tariff slide ; if not, far better 
for twenty years a tariff utterly prohibi- 
ting of all cottons than to forego so 
great an opportunity to make the coun- 
try rich and prosperous beyond its pres- 
ent imaginings. 

There is no good reason why Virginia 
should not equal Pennsylvania in man- 
ufacturing and mining productions, as 
she ever does in resources of mine and 
forest. There is no sufficient cause why 
25 per cent, of the people of Pennsyl- 
vania should produce in agriculture a 
value of ^52 annually for each inhabi- 
tant of the State, while 59 per cent, of 
the people of Virginia should only 
divide 842 per head of total population. 
The influence of home markets on prices, 
with the reflex influence of prices on 
fertilization and culture, is sufficient to 
answer for all this difference. 

This path of progress has been equally 
open to all ; laws supposed to favor a 
diversified industry have been applicable 
to all States alike ; the best water-power 
and the cheapest coal are in the States 
that make no extensive use of either ; 
milder climates and superior fecilities 
for cheap transportation have furnished 
advantages that have not been trans- 
mitted into net profits ; and yet such 
communities, daily inflicting irreparable 
injuries upon themselves by neglecting 
the gifts of Providence and spurning the 
labor of man, ai'e wont to deem them- 
selves injured by the prosperity flowing 
from superior industry and practical 
political economy. 

It is with no purpose of instituting 
invidious comparisons that these refer- 
ences are made to neglected opportuni- 
ties of agricultural or manufacturing 
development. The convulsions and de- 



vastations of war ; the civil disturbances 
and State burdens which followed ; the 
climate disability which modifies per- 
formance of exacting labors ; the paucity 
of artisans skilled by long experience for 
direction in new enterprises; all these 
and many other obstructions in untried 
paths of industry conspire to hinder pro- 
gress in converting the wonderful abund- 
ance of nature's wealth to the uses and 
enrichment of man. Considering these 
difficulties as they really exist, it is 
marvelous that so much has been accom- 
plished complimentary to the Spirit and 
industry, and honorable to the people of 
the South. Yet I maintain that this 
ideal of possible accomplishment, un- 
doubtedly to be fulfilled in the future, 
is not too high. The rich beneficence 
of the climate in the variety and rare 
value of productions which it renders 
possible more than compensates for its 
disadvantages ; and the greatest boon of 
these new industries will be the relief 
afforded from severer labor of primitive 
industry and a supply of congenial and 
profitable occupation in accordance with 
the strength, the tastes, and peculiar 
capacities of all. 

It has been said disparagingly that 
Florida can never become the scene of 
diversified industrial activity, owing to 
the absence of mineral wealth and manu- 
facturing opportunities, and that, as a 
consequence, it can never rise to the 
same plane of wealth and prosperity with 
those States favored in these particu- 
lars. To a superficial observer this 
might appear true, but it is in reality a 
great mistake. In the absence of any 
geological survey, the mineral wealth 
of the State is unknown. It is possible, 
however, that the western portion may 
yet be found rich in carboniferous de- 
posits, and may dispute with Alabama 
the possession of those immense beds of 
coal which geological science has pointed 



28 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



out as lying within her borders. Be 
this as it may, I know of no valuable 
metaliferous or mineral deposits there, 
and such deposits have never entered 
into any calculation of the natural wealth 
of Florida. She has, however, in the 
extensive pine forests which clothe her 
State, mines of wealth as valuable and 
far more accessible than that of most of 
the States of the Union. 

NAVAL STORES. 

It will be readily seen that a State 
having such an immense area in pine 
forests as Florida, offers opportunities 
for the production of naval stores that 
are unsurpassed. This important in- 
dustry, which embraces the production 
of turpentine, resin, pitch and tar, has, 
like many other mines of wealth in the 
State, remained, until recently, un- 
developed, but to-day the State takes 
the lead in the production of turpentine 
and resin. Many who have been en- 
gaged in this industry in other parts of 
the country have discovered the ad- 
vantages that State offers, and have 
transferred thither their capital and 
energy. The pine trees of that State 
are much richer in material for the pro- 
duction of turpentine and resin than 
those of North and South Carolina, and 
owing to the continuance of warm 
weather nearly throughout the year, 
they have a much larger running season. 
The trees can be tapped at least six 
weeks earlier than those of the Carolinas. 
One hand can take care of twelve thou- 
sand boxes, which are said to be a crop, 
and will yield fifty barrels spirits of tur- 
pentine and two hundred of resin. 

I do not here propose to enter into 
statistical details, but will remark that 
in the manufacture of turpentine in 
North Carolina, an annual rental of 
6120 to S240 per crop of 12,000 boxes 
is paid, according to the distance from 
means of transportation. On the other 



hand, in Florida, lands averaging a 
crop ori2,000 boxes to every 200 acres, 
are to be secured, on river or railway, 
for the low price of 50 to 70 cents per 
acre. Timbered lands in Michigan are 
now worth from $10 to SlOO per acre, 
which, ten years ago were selling, under 
the Graduation Laws of the United 
States, at 25 to 75 cents. They were 
regarded then as almost valueless, and 
were tresspassed upon just as the Flor- 
ida pine lands are now. The same 
history of the appreciation of forest 
lands will unquestionably, sooner or 
later, be repeated in this State. 

PRESENT IMMIGRATION. 

The past few years have been marked 
by the commencement in a new era in 
the history of this State, in the unex- 
ampled influx of population which has 
taken place. The means for ascertain- 
ing the exact number of new settlers is 
not at hand : but I am in possession of 
sufficient data to be able to state that 
the accessions of wealth and population 
have been greater during the past year 
than in any three years previous ; and 
the consequence is a very perceptible 
effect on the material property of the 
State. 

This influx of immigrants has been 
more apparent in the eastern jx)rtion of 
the State, and is seen in the extraor- 
dinary advance in the prices of lands ; 
in the extensive purchases that have 
been made for the purposes of tropical 
fruit culture ; in the springing up of 
new and enterpising settlements, and 
the spirit of life and activity which is 
observable throughout regions where 
solitude has hitherto reigned supreme. 

There is, perhaps, no State in the 
Union about which there is so much 
inquiry at present as Florida. Owing 
to the financial troubles during the past 
few years, a great many of the new 
States of the West have been flooded 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



29 



with people seeking to retrieve their 
fortunes ; and this, together with the 
suspension of work in pubHc improve- 
ments, the protracted seasons of drought, 
and the grasshopper plague has told 
disastrously upon the people of Colorado, 
Kansas, Nebraska and Idaho ; and the 
eyes of thousands there are turned ear- 
nestly toward the State as the best solu- 
tion of their difficulties. Besides this, 
the thousands who are becoming poorer 
yearly in the North for want of success- 
ful employment, together with numbers 
who are thoroughly disgusted with the 
slush and mud of intolerable winters, all 
see in the future of Florida what they 
find impossible to attam elsewhere. In 
fact, a spirit of inquiry has been excited 
which will result in an immediate future 
of prosperity to the State. 

There is one very desirable feature 
connected with the immigration of the 
past year, and that is, it has been volun- 
tary, and the settlers have brought with 
them a far larger share of wealth than 
is usually found with the immigrants 
to other States. They have not been 
induced to cast their lot in Florida 
through the instrumentality of selfish 
immigrant agencies, land speculators or 
interested railroad corporations, but have 
sought homes there after a fair investi- 
gation and candid consideration of the 
superior advantages offered by that 
State. Such a class, undoubtedly, con- 
tribute more to the advancement of a 
State than any other. They bring with 
them not only wealth, but power, and 
soon become prosperous and prominent 
members of society. 

To have a more thorough view of the 
State, I will now give an outline history or 
description of the different counties, mak- 
ing a condensed delineation of each, and 
as Leon leads in importance, we will give 
it the first in rank of the Northern coun- 
ties, taking the other counties in order. 



LEON COUNTY. 

I think I may safely say, that this 
county, taking everything into consider- 
ation, is unsurpassed by any in the State. 
The population of the County is about 
15,000. It contains an area of about 
936 square miles, and is bounded on the 
north by Thomas County, Georgia, on 
the east by Jefferson County, Florida, 
and on the south by Wakulla County 
(where its southern boundary is from 
ten to fifteen miles from the Gulf coast), 
and on the west by Ocklockouee River, 
which separates it from Liberty and 
Gadsden Counties. Tallahassee, the 
Capitol of the State, is the county seat, 
and has a population of about 3,000. 
It is beautifully located, occupying the 
top and slope of a very high hill, and 
its commanding position, the number oi 
large live oaks stretching abroad their 
strong arms in every direction over its 
public squares and scattered here and 
there in the streets, the tall and stately 
magnolias in the suburbs and every- 
where in sight, give it an appearance 
not only pleasing, but decidedly pictur- 
esque. The gardens are ornamented 
with lemon and orange trees, — bananas 
spread their broad foliage to the view 
in many places, and at any and every 
season of the year some beauty, in the 
shape of bud, leaf or blossom, greets the 
eye. The atmosphere is loaded with 
the perfume of a thousand flowers, and 
at every instant the ear is delighted 
with the musical voices of unnumbered 
mocking-birds as they discourse their 
music from every garden. 

The city, in the main, is well built. 
The stores, mostly on the main street, 
are constructed of brick, with slate or 
tin roofs ; they are, as a general thing, 
very large and well arranged for the 
purposes of trade. The private resi- 
dences — some of brick, and some frame 
— are generally of a fiiir and neat ap- 



30 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



pearance, while many are of magnifi- 
cient proportions and finished in the 
very best of style. There is one hotel, 
and several private boarding houses in 
the place. There are six churches, 
three livery stables, two bookstores, 
quite a number of dry-goods and grocery 
stores, and shops of various kinds, male 
and female schools, and last though not 
least, two newspapers. 

The society of the place is excellent. 
The cost of living reasonable, and the 
markets well supplied. In short, I know 
of no more agreeable place to spend a 
winter or to locate for life. 

The climate of Leon County, although 
it is not tropical, is mild and pleasant in 
winter. Although there is frequently 
frost, and ice occasionally, yet it is 
rare for the thermometer to go below 
40° Fahrenheit, and then only for a 
short time, w^hile one would feel com- 
fortable in summer clothing at least one 
half of the Avinter, and in summer the 
thermometer rarely indicates a greater 
heat than 96*^, and the average is about 
90°. This heat is tempered by the al- 
most constant sea-breeze, the influence 
of which is distinctly felt. The nights 
are invariably pleasant, and even in the 
hottest part of the season some covering 
is generally necessary in sleeping. The 
healtbfulness of the county is rather 
good, but the regular diseases of more 
northern climates are found here, such 
as intermittent and remittent fevers, in 
summer and fall, and pneumonia and 
rheumatism in winter and spring, but 
there is no great fatality attending them. 
On the other hand, thoi^e laboring under 
lung diseases, etc., from the North, are 
frequently entirely restored. 

The surface of the county is varied. 
Most of the northern half is elevated, 
gently undulating, and from some of the 
hilltops beautiful views maybe enjoyed. 
South of Tallahassee most of the country 



is level, though high and dry. Dotted 
over the surface are many beautiful 
lakes, some of which are so extensive as 
to claim a place on the map, such as 
lakes Lafayette, Jackson, lamonia, and 
Miccosukie. They all abound in the most 
delicious fish, are surrounded by lovely 
forests, and the most fertile lands. In- 
deed, they form such a beautiful feature 
that I do not think it would be out of 
place to attempt a description of one ol 
them, and without asserting that it is 
the most beautiful, I select Lake Mic- 
cosukie for my purpose. Lake Micco- 
sukie is nineteen miles northeast from 
Tallahassee, its length is about fifteen 
miles, and from three-fourths of a mile 
to four miles in width. It has two main 
sources or heads, the one coming from 
Thomas County, Georgia, called Ward's 
Creek, empties into the lake at its widest 
part, and the other. Dry Creek, which 
flows from the west and empties into 
what is known as the head of the lake. 
It widens from this point gradually for 
half a mile, where it is three-quarters of 
a mile wide, and forms on the southern 
side a basin, circular in form and very 
deep, say from seventy to one hundred 
feet, while the northern side is shallow, 
and continues to widen until it reaches 
the confluence of Ward's Creek, where 
the lake is full four miles wide. Around 
three-fourths of the extent of this basin 
stands a most beautiful and magnificent 
growth of trees, among which may be 
seen the walnut, red bay or Florida 
mahogany, the tall and graceful ash, the 
red, white, water, Spanish, and live 
oaks, the beach, the wild cherry, the 
olive or mock orange, the hickory, and 
last the stately magnolia, towering above 
all, a thing of beauty at all seasons, 
covered as it is at all times with a rich 
foliage of large, dark green, shining 
leaves from eight to twelve inches in 
length, and in May, June and July 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



31 



loading the atmosphere with the delicate 
perfume of its large white flowers, which 
expand to eight inches or more. Some 
of these beautiful trees are festooned 
with wild grape vines, others with clem- 
atis, yellow jasmine, woodbine, and 
trumpet flowers, while at their roots may 
be seen the sanguinaria canadensis, the 
spigelia, turkeyberry, daisies, primroses, 
violets, and other unnamed but delicate 
and pretty little flowers peeping out from 
among a variety of grasses, which send up 
their bolder artificial-looking blossoms. 
The growth is not fully described till we 
mention, as between these towering trees 
and the modest flowers at their feet, the 
shrubbery "in medio;" the sparkle-berry 
with its beautiful white drooping bell, 
the wild plum with its feathery bloom, 
the dogwood with its staring white blos- 
soms, the red-bud and the old-man's- 
beard with its long, white fringe. The 
long, sombre-looking gray moss, which 
is pendant from every limb, without de- 
tracting from the beauty, serves to tone 
down the otherwise gay and brilliant 
appearance of the scene, and renders it 
if possible even more attractive. The 
banks on which this most beautiful and 
variegated growth is found are jorecipit- 
ous and high, at some points rising from 
the water's edge as boldly and precipit- 
ously as a rock to the hight of from ten 
to forty feet, at others looking as if they 
had been graded, one grade rising above 
the other to the hight of 100 feet. This 
is what is known as the* "Bluflf" of the 
lake; at the northwest of the bluff", 
where, around a shelving point, the 
water from the "Head" sweeps into the 
basin, there is an uninterrupted view 
of several miles due east to where it is 
ended by the curve of the lake as it goes 
southeast. In this direction it goes on 
seven or eight miles farther, becoming 
more and more contracted till, forming 
a bold creek, it empties itself into the 



earth by means of a lime sink and thus 
loses itself to view, but perhaps to 
show its waters in the light of open day 
again where the St. Mark's, a full-gi-own 
river, rises from the earth without 
tributary of any kind from the surface. 
A radius of one mile from this sink Avill 
reach a circle in which is included Long 
Pond Sink coming from west southwest, 
Black Creek Sink from south southwest, 
and Bailey's Creek Sink, from east 
southeast. Thus four running streams 
coming from different directions sink 
near the same spot. From the vicinity 
of these sinks there is a valley running 
in the general direction of the head of 
the St. Marks, and that river rises from 
the earth, runs sluggishly for some miles, 
sinks, forming a natural bridge, and 
rising again flows uninterruptedly to the 
Gulf. Thus making it probable that 
Lake Miccosukie is the principal head 
of the St. Marks River. Few more 
romantic spots are to be found anyAvhere 
than the "Bluff"' of Miccosukie Lake. 
Above, beneath, and all around is beau- 
tiful. The merry month of May brings 
together the neighbors at this delightful 
spot to enjoy their picnics, and scarcely 
a day passes that does not witness a 
merry gathering, large or small, to enjoy 
the scene, the fishing, and each other's 
society. In winter innumerably flocks 
of wild ducks, brent, and sometimes 
geese, sport upon the broad bosom of 
the lake, while in summer its surface, 
where shallow, is covered by maiden 
cane, flag and bonnets, with their broad 
white flowers, from eight to ten inches 
in diameter, floating on the water. 
Corn and cotton fields of large dimen- 
sions and unsurpassed fertility surround 
it on every side, all elevated, forming 
high hills "with gentle slopes and groves 
between." So Lake Miccosukie, whether 
you view it as a sheet of water or 
turn your gaze upon the beauty and 



32 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



loveliness of its banks, or with a more 
utilitarian intent survey its surrounding 
lands, challenge your admiration and 
justly claims a favorable notice. Besides 
the lakes mentioned already, there are 
many others, all abounding in fish; 
while throughout the county may be 
seen many beautiful little streams fur- 
nishing ample water for stock. 

The soil of Leon County is varied. 
In the northern half of the county, as a 
general thing, the soil is a sandy loam 
based upon red clay, and is very pro- 
ductive. In the southern half most of 
the soil is sandy and deep to clay, which 
is of a pale yellow color ; and some of 
the soil is quite productive. There are 
all varieties of soil, however, throughout 
the county, and a less proportion of 
really poor than any other county in the 
State. 

The productions of the county are 
numerous, but the great staple and prin- 
cipal source of income is cotton. This 
plant grows well even on the poorer soil 
within the county if well cultivated. 
Corn, sugar-cane, sorghum, rice, oats, 
rye, barley, castor-oil bean, peanuts, 
Cuba tobacco, sweet potatoes, Irish pota- 
toes, all yield good crops, and garden 
vegetables in endles variety and to great 
perfection. Some persons would be un- 
charitaljle enough to doubt my veracity 
were I to mention the weights and 
measurements which some of these vege- 
tables have attained, as for instance : 
A short beet 32 inches in circumference, 
a flat turnip 11 inches in diameter, rad- 
ish 27 inches in length, 18 inches in 
circumference, and weighing G;^ pounds ; 
a globe turnip weighing, with top, 1-4 
pounds, and 11^ pounds without top or 
top root ; a watermelon weighing 70 
pounds ; and yet I myself weighed and 
measured every one of them. Fruit, 
though much neglected, can be raised in 
great variety ; the climate is rather too 



cold for raising lemons and oranges 
profitably ; almost every one, however, 
has orange trees in his garden, and some 
few have little groves of them ; the crop 
is always uncertain ; a cold snap when 
the trees are in bloom always injures 
and sometimes entirely destroys it. Ba- 
nanas are also uncertain. But peaches, 
plums, figs, pomegranates, and all var- 
ieties of small fruit do well. 

There are many kinds of valuable 
timber in the county, the principal of 
which are the oak, hickory, ash, magno- 
lia, Florida mahogany, cherry, beach, 
cypress, poplar, and large quantities of 
the best yellow pine. 

Leon county has easy access to a 
choice of markets. The Jacksonville, 
Pensacola and JMobile Railroad runs from 
east to west twenty -five miles through 
the county, dividing it almost equally. 
The Atlantic and Gulf Railroad, from 
Savannah to Bainbridge, Georgia, runs 
nearly parallel with the northern line 
of the county, and distant from ten to 
twelve miles. The Tallahassee Railroad 
runs southeast from Tallahassee to the 
coast at St. Marks. Next in import- 
ance is 

JEFFERSON COUNTY, 

This county occupies a central position 
in the tier of counties known as Middle 
Florida. Chief among its unrivalled 
attractions is its mild and delightful 
climate, the variety, magnificence and 
value of its timber, the fertility of its 
soil, its accesiBibility to markets, its 
abundance of pure water, its extreme 
healthfulness, and lastly the cheapness 
of its lands. 

Jeflferson County is bounded on the 
north by the State of Georgia, on the 
south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the 
east by Madison County, and on the 
west by the County of Leon, and con- 
tains nearly 600 square miles. The face 
of the county, beginning at the Georgia 



DR. RIOBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



33 



line find extending south a distance of 
twenty miles, is beautifully undulating, 
intersected throughout with branches or 
streams of water, fed by springs that 
seldom fail, and dotted here and there 
with lovely and picturesque lakes. Large 
scopes of country are to be found cov- 
ered with forests of yellow pine, and 
upon the lakes and rivers contiguous to 
them are, in great variety and abund- 
ance, the white, red, water, and the 
statey live oak, also the hickory, the 
ash, the wild cherry, poplar, green, red 
bay, walnut, beech, and the magnificent 
and evergreen magnolia. 

About twelve miles from the Gulf 
coast the surface of the county is level, 
and known as the flat-woods. The 
growth on these lands is mainly pine ; 
the lands are not well adapted to cotton, 
but furnish fine ranges for stock, hogs, 
cattle and sheep, and are famous as 
hunting and fishing grounds. Deer and 
wild turkey are plentiful, and small 
game and fish in abundance ; in fact, it 
is the paradise of the huntsman and 
fisherman. 

The soil is varied. In the upper and 
middle portions of the county, it is 
highly productive. With a fine rolling 
country, adapted to the production 
of almost every crop, clear running 
streams, and in fact every facility de- 
sirable for first-class farming, and withal 
a fine pasture land. The pine lands, 
while not so fertile naturally as the 
lands upon the lakes and rivers, are 
perhaps as desirable to the immigrant, 
as they are susceptible of high improve- 
ment at very little expense, and are 
more easily cleared for cultivation. 

Cotton is the staple crop, and upon 
which the inhabitants mainly rely 
for ready cash, although corn, sugar- 
cane, oats, rice, etc. , yield abundantly. 
In fact the productions of the county 
are exceedingly varioas and valuable. 
3 



As to fruit-growing, what is stated in 
regard to Leon County is equally appli- 
cable here. 

Jefferson County, in point of health- 
fulness, take it the year round, "through 
summer's heat and winter's cold," will 
compare favorably with any country in 
the world. 

Land can be purchased in this county 
at low rates. But a small fraction of 
the land in the county is held by the 
Government ; being very productive, it 
was eagerly sought after, and well nigh 
all settled up at an early day. Prior to 
the late war it was owned, in most part, 
in large bodies by men of wealth and the 
owners of slaves. The greater portion 
of it was then in a high state of cultiva- 
tion. But things have undergone a 
change. Owing to a want of capital, 
the present owners are unable to culti- 
vate only a portion of these lands ; hence 
a greater number of acres may be con- 
sidered in market, and can be had at 
moderate prices. Plantations, that un- 
der a proper system of cultivation would 
produce 400 pounds of lint cotton per 
acre (worth ^50,000) can now be bought 
in lots of forty acres or more, at from 
$4: to $8 per acre, and this on good 
time ; for cash more advantageous bar- 
gains can be had. 

Instances have come under my ob- 
servation in this county, where settlers 
have purchased farms of forty acres on 
several years time, but with one man's 
labor and a mule, have paid from the 
first year's crop for their farms and raised 
abundance besides to support their fam- 
ilies well. 

MADISON COUNTY. 

Madison County is generally level — 
in some sections, however, it is rolling, 
and in others slightly undulating ; but 
the majority of its lands are as level as 
a plain, and suited well for farming 
purposes. This county affords fine facil- 



34 



DR. EIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



ities for settlements, and contains the 
first really rich lands for genernl farm- 
ing west of the St. John's River in the 
northern counties. 

Many large plantations, cultivated so 
flourishingly before the late war, and 
yielding largely of wealth to their own- 
ers, are now lying idle for want of capi- 
tal to work them. I have no doubt, 
nay, I am sure, that the owners of 
these vast plantations, containing thou- 
sands of acres each, would sell on any 
fair terms to worthy persons who would 
feel disposed to go there as actual set- 
tlers. Any price a man may desire, 
from one dollar to ten, can purchase 
these lands. Forest lands can be bought, 
of course, for much less than the im- 
proved lands. An improved farm might 
be bought at such figures, as by skillful 
farming, to be able to pay for itself in 
one year. Intelligent, industrious set- 
tlers are sure of cordial welcome by the 
hospitable people of this county, and 
soon have everything necessary to make 
home comfortable. 

Before the war about 12,000 bales 
was the annual exportation of cotton 
from this county, more than one-third 
of which was sea-island or the long staple 
variety. 

The soil is very productive ; a large 
portion very rich, with a loamy soil, or 
gray and black hammock land. The 
poorest quality of pine land, with a 
sandy soil and clay substratum or foun- 
dation in its natural state, will produce 
600 pounds seed cotton per acre ; while 
the rich oak or hammock lands, with 
gray, black, red or chocolate-colored 
soil, of which Madison has, perhaps, 
more than any other county in the 
State, will grow twenty or more bushels 
of corn or 1,000 pounds of cotton to the 
acre. Madison County is the commence- 
ment of the rich lands of Middle Flor- 
ida, producing probably more corn, cot- 



ton and other staple products than any 
other portion of the State. 

The climate is delightful. Roses bloom 
and vegetables grow in the gardens 
throughout the entire winter, while the 
almost continual and refreshing breezes 
temper the warmth of summer. 

The productions are varied. The 
orange and lemon, with a little care and 
trouble, may be plentifully raised for 
home use, but everything else that man 
desires can be produced in abundance. 
The staple products are corn, upland 
and sea-island cotton, sugar, syrup, or 
molasses, rye, oats, peas, sweet potatoes, 
Irish potatoes, peanuts, and garden veg- 
etables of every description. Tobacco 
grows well here, but it is seldom planted. 

This county is well timbered with all 
varieties of wood, and lumbering is ex- 
tensive in some portions. 

The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mo- 
bile Railroad runs nearly through the 
centre of the county, giving an outlet 
both east and west for its productions. 

The health of this county is generally 
good. There is as a general thing great 
regularity and evenness of temperature 
here, and it is not so productive of di- 
seases common in Southern States. It 
is true there is sickness, but those of 
dangerous or malignant types are rare. 

As to fruits, I can say that this is 
one of the finest counties for the cul- 
ture of the different varieties of grapes. 
Peaches, figs, strawberries in profusion. 
As for watermelons, I couldn't do jus- 
tice to the subject. 

This county is as large as the State 
of Delaware. It is situated between 
the Suwannee and Aucilla Rivers ; its 
boundary line on the north separates k 
from the State of Georgia ; on the east 
the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers 
divide it from Hamilton and Suwannee 
Counties, and on the south are the 
countie.s of Lafayette and Taylor, while 



BE. RIGBY'S PATERS ON FLORIDA. 



35 



on the west is Jefferson County. It has 
an area of about 800 square miles, or 
512,000 acres. Of this, over 240,000 
acres are private lands, held by titles 
from the United States and State 
governments. The population is about 
15,000. 

Madison, the county seat, is quite a 
nice little village. It has a population 
of about 1,000; has ten or twelve 
stores, and its citizens are as kind and 
clever as can be found anywhere. There 
are other public places in the county at 
which considerable mercantile and other 
business is done. But the most import- 
ant, thorough-going, go-ahead place in 
the county is Ellaville, in its eastern 
portion, at the confluence of the With- 
lacoochee and Suwannee Rivers. There 
are quite a number of saw-mills here, 
and one of the largest in the State, and 
the lumber trade is extensive. There 
are over five-hundred persons employed 
in these mills in the management of 
their various departments. 

Politically this county, like the State, 
is Republican. Socially, the people are 
all that could be desired ; courteous 
and clever, good neighbors, and hospita- 
ble in the extreme. As to the religious, 
moral and educational status of the 
county, it stands high. The villages and 
towns have churches of the different 
denominations, while the free-school 
system is liberally adopted. 

GADSDEN COUNTY. 

This county constitutes one of the 
subdivisions of the Middle District of 
Florida. It is bounded on the north by 
the line separating Georgia from Flor- 
ida, on the west by Apalachicola River, 
on the south by Liberty County, and on 
the east by the Ocklockonee River. 

The county seat is Quincy. The lo- 
cation of the town is quite elevated, and 
it enjoys a commanding view of the 
valley of the Attapulgas and its adjacent 



hills, presenting a panorama of beauty 
seldom seen. For many years prior to 
the war there were sustained Avithin the 
corporate limits of the town two floiu- 
ishing high schools, male and female, 
which received a flattering patronage 
from hundreds of miles around. As a 
point for permanent residence there are 
few interior towns that present more 
pleasant social attractions. The chui-cli 
privileges are ample ; business houses 
numerous, and well sustained from the 
surrounding country. It is located im- 
mediately on the line of railroad con- 
necting the Apalachicola with the St. 
Johns River at Jacksonville, and with 
Fernandina and Savannah, Georgia, on 
the Atlantic. It also has direct railroad 
communication with St. Marks, on the 
Gulf of Mexico, the principal shipping 
point in the Middle District. 

Gadsden County embraces a tract of 
country of an undulating surface, in 
strong contrast with other sections of 
the Southern States bordering on the 
Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and in many 
localities it may be said to resemble very 
much the northern portion of Virginia. 
It abounds in innumerable springs of the 
purest free-stone water, and is inter- 
sected by a large number of clear, run- 
ning streams, which afford ample facil- 
ities for the erection of grist and saw- 
mills, and other manufacturing machin- 
ery — in this respect Gadsden County 
will compare favorably with any section 
of the United States. 

The soil is, for the most part, ba.sed 
upon strong red clay, which gives it 
great advantage in the retention of such 
manures and fertilizers as may be ap- 
plied. The oak and hickory, and culti- 
vable pine lands invariably have a sub- 
stratum of clay lying from one to twd 
feet beneath the surface. In the ham- 
mock lands the substratum of clay is 
more remote, but generally sufficiently 



36 



DB. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



near to impart a proper consistency to 
the upper soil. In proportion to its area 
Gadsden contains as large an amount of 
cultivable land as any county in the 
State. 

The forest growth is of very great 
variety, but the yellow and pitch pine, 
suitable for fencing and milHng purposes, 
very largely preponderates. The pine 
forests afford fine summer pasturage, and 
the hammocks in winter. 

Owing to the undulating surface of 
the county the lands were never very 
attractive to that class of immigrants 
known as large "cotton planters," and 
hence the county was settled by men 
of moderate means and of industrious 
and frugal habits. This circumstance 
has stamped upon its population more 
the character of "farmers" than of 
"planters." With this characteristic 
they have always produced their own 
supplies of provisions, and prior to the 
close of the war it was a matter of rare 
occurrence that either meat or bread 
was imported from abroad. The same 
spirit of independence is still observable 
in the tone and bearing of the agricult- 
ural population of the county, and 
though somewhat cramped in their pres- 
ent means, and suffering under the great 
change which so suddenly and unex- 
pectedly occurred in their system of 
labor, it is a cheering augury that they 
are rapidly conforming to their altered 
circumstances, and fast returning to 
their former thrift. Li a word, the soil, 
climate, and habits of the population 
combine all the elements of a successful 
farming community. 

Among the staple products of the 
county are cotton and Cuba tobacco. 
Although all other farming products are 
extremely varied. 

Peaches, apples, cherries, figs, or- 
anges, and the smaller fruits or berries, 
such an strawberries and raspberries, are 



cultivated to great perfection ; and the 
dew and blackberries are in great 
abundance, wild in every part of the 
county. It would exhaust the entire 
catalogue to enumerate the kinds of 
vegetables grown here to the greatest 
perfection. There is not a month in the 
year in which the tables of the fixrmers 
are not supplied with an abundance of 
fresh vegetables. Cabbages weighing 
over twenty pounds to the head ; toma- 
toes weighing two pounds each, and 
Irish potatoes weighing twenty-three 
ounces and averaging over 300 bushels 
to the acre give an idea of what is to be 
expected in this line. 

Gadsden has always been esteemed 
one of the most healthy counties in 
the State. The undulating surface of 
the county prevents the accumulation 
of stagnant water, and hence is ex- 
empted from the miasmatic diseases 
usually prevalent in low latitudes. 

Stock raising, bee husbandry and silk 
culture do well. 

In consequence of the recent change 
in agricultural labor, most farmers find 
themselves with much more land than 
they can successfully cultivate. There 
are good opportunities for the purchase 
of divided farms, with good improve- 
ments, at figures to suit the purchaser. 

WAKULLA COUNTY. 

What has been said in regard to the 
last two counties, as to soil, products, 
etc., is equally applicable to Wakulla. 
This is called the banner sugar and 
sweet-potato county of the State ; 4,000 
pounds of sugar has been produced in 
one season from a single acre ; of sweet- 
potatoes 415 bushels have been raised 
to a single acre. The traveler in pass- 
ing over the county by rail from Talla- 
hassee to St. Marks, or in the saddle 
from Tallahassee to Crawfordsville, or 
over any of the public roads of the 
county, would not be very favorably 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



37 



impressed with the fertility of the soil, 
nor the monotonous smoothness of the 
surface. The hammocks are very thickly 
timbered, the trees are large, the shrub- 
bery is dense, and it requires much 
labor to open roads through them ; 
and those whose province it is to locate 
public roads studiously avoid large ham- 
mocks, and the public roads are, there- 
fore, mainly opened through the pine 
woods and upon the poorest land ; and 
the wayfarer has no knowledge of the 
vast and various resources of the county; 
of its superabundant and magnificent 
timber and alluvial soil. The soil of 
much of the pine lands is very produc- 
tive, the scrub, and oak, and hickory is 
better, and of many of the large ham- 
mocks it is wonderfully prolific ; it is 
deep and dark, loose and loamy, and 
well adapted to every variety of crops 
or vegetables. Under proper cultiva- 
tion the productions of corn, cotton and 
sweet-potatoes would be prodigious. 

The prices of land in this county, like 
the majority of those of the State, is 
exceedingly diflicult to come at any- 
thing like a standard rate, as there is 
yet very little demand and very few 
sales ; but I believe it will average 
from seventy-five cents to five dollars 
per acre. 

The procuration of salt was a question 
of momentous magnitude during the 
late war, and hundreds of salt-works 
were erected upon the ''salt-flats" along 
the sea-shore within the limits of Wa- 
kulla, and from which thousands of 
bushels of salt were daily manufactured. 

With desirable homesteads at unpre- 
cedently low prices, a productive soil, a 
healthy and delightful climate, the Gulf 
nearly at their doors, and from which 
can be obtained supplies of fish, oysters 
and salt ; convenience to markets ; 
schools and churches in almost every 
neighborhood, and an encouraging wel- 



come from hospitable people, Wakulla 
compares fiivorably with other counties 
in Florida. 

DUVAL COUNTY. 

Duval county has for its boundaries 
the Atlantic ocean on the east, Nassau 
County on the north. Baker County on 
the west, and Clay and St. John's Coun- 
ties on the south. It contains about 
500,000 acres of tillable land, on which 
can be grown all the productions of 
Northern Florida. It excels, however, 
in its adaptation for the growth of all 
kinds of market vegetables, and will, 
undoubtedly, at no distant day, become 
a vast garden from whence the cities of 
the North and Atlantic coast will obtain 
their supplies of early vegetables. It is 
more advantageously situated Avith re- 
spect to facilities for communication 
than any other county of the State at 
the present time ; and has an abundance 
of means at hand for the disposition of 
its products. The St. John's River, 
with its multitudinous creeks and rami- 
fications, occupies nearly one-tenth of 
the surface of the county. Its waters 
are navigable for vessels of all sizes, and 
the connection of the county with the 
markets of Savannah, Charleston and 
New York is, therefore, of a close and 
intimate character. 

Jacksonville is the chief point of in- 
terest in Duval County ; it is situated 
on the St. John's River, about twenty- 
five miles from its mouth. It is the 
most populous city in the State, and in 
wealth, commerce and industry, is rap- 
idly taking a front position among the 
cities of the Atlantic seaboard. 

The principal business at present in 
this county, is the manufacture of lum- 
ber. There are eight to a dozen steam 
saw-mills scattered up and down the 
river in the space of four or five mile?. 
These manufacture about 50,000,000 
feet of lumber annually. 



38 



DB, RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLOBTDA. 



Keal estate is low now, but the ten- 
dency is upward, and with a prosperous 
country above, it must continue to 
advance under the present rapid and 
healthy growth of the State. 

ESCAMBIA COUNTY. 

The surface of the land in this county 
is undulating, the central portion rising 
into high ridge?:, sometimes reaching an 
elevation of from 150 to 200 feet above 
the level of the sea. The soil is what is 
generally characteristic of "pine woods"; 
it is quite sandy along the coast, becom- 
ing less and less so as you advance into 
the interior, and generally resting upon 
a subsoil of farinaceous clay, easily cul- 
tivated, and susceptible of being rend- 
ered highly productive — peaches, nect- 
arines, apricots, figs, plums, and grapes 
requiring but little attention, and still 
bearing bountifully, and being entirely 
exempt from disease or worm. All the 
grasses, including clover, timothy, blue 
grass and Bermuda, do well in different 
portions of the county, yielding good 
crops. With regard to other crops, the 
yield is abundant. Garden vegetables 
of every description can be produced 
abundantly. 

The greater bulk of the people of this 
county are engaged in some capacity 
connected with the lumber trade, or else 
are upon the waters, so that the soil 
and farm industry in general are com- 
paratively neglected. The few, there- 
fore, who do cultivate the soil and en- 
gage in the various pursuits incident to 
it, find a ready home market, and real- 
ize the best of profits as a reward for 
their industry. 

Pensacola is the port of entry for the 
county, as well as for almost the entire 
portion of West Florida, and is the 
county seat of Escambia. It has a popu- 
lation of 4,000, while the population of 
the county is about G,000. 



This county is well timbered with all 
the varieties of growth, and lumbering 
is extensively carried on. 

The climate of this part of Florida is 
unequalled for its mildness and salubrity, 
and is rapidly being sought by invalids 
from the Northern States. This county 
has one great want, and that is agricult- 
ural labor. This tends to keep back the 
consequent enhancement in value of 
lands which is inevitable when farming 
is a ruling interest. Thousands of acres 
which should be blooming with life and 
beauty, are now lying idle and neglected, 
and from this cause, after being denuded 
of their timber, are considered by their 
owners scarcely worth the tax assessed 
upon them. 

SANTA ROSA COUNTY 

Is bounded by W alton County on the 
east, Escambia on the west, by Ala- 
bama on the north, and the Gulf on the 
south. The Blackwater and Escambia 
are the principal rivers. The county 
has an area of about 1,140 square miles. 
The population of the county is about 
6,000. The population has increased 
over fifty per cent, since the close of the 
war. 

The surface is slightly undulating, 
and broken by numerous small streams 
and rivers. The soil is light but very 
productive, particularly the lands known 
as swamp lands. The climate is exceed- 
ingly equable and healthy, and epidem- 
ics are unknown in the county. 

Corn, sugar-cane, potatoes, and all 
the garden vegetables are raised abund- 
antly. Every variety of fruit does well, 
and under cultivation yield extensively. 

There are immense quantities of every 
variety of timber throughout the county, 
such as pine, juniper, cypress, cedar, 
live and water oak, cherry, bay and 
magnolia. 

The average price of land is §1.25 for 



DB. RIGJSY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



39 



unimproved, and from ^4 to $10 for 
improved. 

Milton and Bagdad offer a convenient 
and ready market for all Qountry pro- 
duce, and the numerous steam vessels 
plying between these places and Pensa- 
cola, New Orleans and other ports on 
the Gulf, afford every facility for get- 
ting produce to market. 

Stock raising is carried on to some 
extent in this county. Sheep do ex- 
ceedingly well. 

SUWANNEE COUNTY. 

The general topography of Suwann^ 
County is rolling in the south and north 
and ai^proaching to hilly in the middle, 
with but little low or swampy land. 
The quality of the soil is mostly sandy ; 
sand being a part of nearly all the land 
in the county. The soil is light, easily 
cultivated, and very much improved by 
proper fertilizing. There is a very small 
amount of land in the county, but that 
with proper attention would not repay 
labor. 

The Suwannee River is the boundary 
line of the county from the northeast to 
the southeast corner, a distance of over 
100 miles. The J., P. and M. Raiboad 
enters the county at Welborn, and runs 
across the county to the Suwannee River 
at EUaville. The A. and G. Railroad 
enters the county on the north side and 
runs to Live Oak, connecting with the 
J., P. and M. Railroad to Jacksonville 
on the east and Tallahassee on the west. 

Com and cotton are the principal 
crops, but all other varieties are raised 
abundantly in different parts of the 
county. The raising of cattle, horses, 
hogs and mules is receiving a great deal 
of attention. 

There is a rapid advance in fruit 
culture in this county, even oranges do 
well. There are numbers of vineyards 
of the Scuppernogg grape, and quite a 
large amount of wine made yearly. 



In my opinion there is no place in 
Florida that a poor man, or a man Avith 
moderate means, can do better than in 
this county. Land-holders seem Avilliug 
to divide their large farms with new- 
comers, and at the most reasonable rates. 
The people are hospitable. Any person 
going there, that will work, buy a home 
and become one of the people, make his 
interest the interest of all, will find 
every kindness and assistance requisite 
to success and haiipiness. 

The climate is delightful. The nights 
are beautifully cool, and the hard-work- 
ing farmer can enjoy sweet sleep and rest. 
The healthfulness could not be better. 

The county is well timbered with all 
varieties, and small lakes of pure water 
and running streams on almost every 
plantation for stock and farm purposes — 
in fact there are few parts of the State 
better supplied with pure, clear water. 

TAYLOR COUNTY. 

Taylor County is as yet a frontier 
county, and has not had its resources 
developed, even in a primitive manner. 
The surface of the county is level, and 
presents a beautiful appearance to the 
traveler; is interspersed with small 
streams or creeks, which abound in fish. 
There is game in abundance, such as 
deer, bear, wild turkeys, etc. 

The soil is rich and generous, and 
there is an abundance of as good ham- 
mock land here as in any other portion 
of the State. The climate is salubrious 
and genial. 

This county has been a splendid 
range for cattle and hogs. Thousands of 
heads of cattle o^vned by non-residents 
constantly range this county, and are 
under the care of residents who are re- 
munerated for overseeing stock, by 
owners, and the consequence has been 
that agriculture has been neglected. 
But this state of things is now in a 
measure broken, as new settlers are com- 



40 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



iiig in, and the people are turning their 
attention more to agriculture and the 
proper developement of the county, and 
a higher future is everywhere indicated. 

As to products, grapes, etc., what has 
been said of Suwannee County is equally 
applicable here, but not to so great an 
extent, principally on account of the 
primitive nature of general improve- 
ments. But with fair cultivation there 
is no reason why the land of this county 
should not yield abundantly of the gen- 
eral products, fruit, etc., of the adjacent 
counties. 

Wild pine land can be bought at from 
one to two dollars per acre according to 
location. Land with improvements is 
worth from two to five dollars per acre. 
But when I speak of improvements, the 
reader must not anticipate much, as the 
houses are all log-houses, and very sorry 
ones at that. The chief value of the im- 
provements is in the cleared land. The 
improvements in this county compare 
very poorly, in a great many instances, 
with what the traveler meets in numer- 
ous other counties in the State. 

This county is bounded on the north 
by Madison county, on the east by La- 
fayette County, on the south by the 
Gulf of Mexico, and on the west by 
Jefierson County. It has a coast line 
of 120 miles, indented by several bays and 
harbors, on which are some of the best 
fisheries along the coast of Florida. 

The turpentine and lumber business 
of this county, at no distant day, is des- 
tined to be of vast proportions, and men 
of capital would make a good investment 
to buy lands for turpentine orchards in 
this county. But the strength of a 
county lays in the hardy yeomanry, 
and to such the county offers superior 
advantages. Here land is cheap, plenty, 
easy to clear, easy to cultivate, and 
gives a good yield ; and there is good 
pasturage for stock raising. 



With what has come under my im- 
mediate observation in other counties 
equally good, I can't see w^hat is to pre- 
vent an industrious farmer from suc- 
ceeding here, and in the course of a few 
years having a competency with all he 
wants around him. 

NASSAU COUNTY. 

Nassau County, in the northeastern 
corner of the State, contains about 700 
square miles, including the island of 
Amelia; population, 4,500, Is bounded 
on the north and west by the St. Mary's 
River, on the east by the Atlantic, and 
on the south by the Nassau Eiver and 
its tributaries. These natural water 
boundaries consist for one half of their 
extent of estuaries and streams navi- 
gable for ocean vessels. The Florida 
Railroad traverses its length nearly mid- 
way between these water courses. Ac- 
cessibility to its natural resources is one 
of the leading features of this county. 
On its sea coast it has an excellent har- 
bor, sjiacious enough to shelter the fleets 
of the United States. Its port, Fernan- 
dina, is a town of 2000 inhabitants. It is 
the shipping point for a large share of 
the products of the Gulf States. Steam- 
ers leave twice a week for Savannah 
and Charleston, and twice for the South; 
while it has daily connections per rail- 
road Avith the Gulf coast, with Jackson- 
ville, and the railroads leading into 
Georgia, and thence North and West. 
Sailing vessels in the lumber trade de- 
part constantly for Northern ports, the 
West Indies, South America and Europe. 
From its insular position (Fernandina), 
fanned by constant see-breezes, cool in 
summer and mild in winter, is desirable 
for residence, and offers to the far-seeing 
capitalist the chance for building up a 
widespread and lucrative trade ; to the 
invalid in search of health, a mild and 
salubrious climate ; and the pleasure- 
seeker will find in the chance for 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



41 



boating and duck-shooting offered by 
her harbor, in the shell road and in her 
unrivalled beach, with its invigorating 
surf baths and its fifteen miles of smooth, 
unbroken race track, sufficient attrac- 
tion for a lengthy stay. With a liberal 
policy pursued by those who control her 
destiny, Fernandina's future must be 
great and bright. 

The soil of Nassau County varies from 
the light mulatto soils of the coast 
through all the intermediate gradations 
to the stiff clays and marls in the low 
lands of her rivers ; and its range of 
productions is as varied as the soil. On 
Amelia Island, the edge of the mainland, 
and scattered along her rivers are soils 
of calcarious sand that are adapted for 
the finest qualities of long staple cotton, 
to the culture of the grape and olive, 
while the branch, fresh marsh and black 
rush lands attached to them are especially 
suitable for gardening. These lands are 
easily reclaimed, rich, moist, and close 
to shipping opportunities, so that the 
shipping of early vegetables to northern 
markets must soon form a considerable 
item in the list of profitable investments. 
In this connection I will call attention to 
the many fertile swamp lands near the 
coast, that have been drained and 
brought under partial cultivation before 
the war, but are now lying idle for 
want of capital and enterprise, such as 
the "Three Rivers," "O'Neal's Fields," 
the " Vaughn Tract," etc., and to the 
large abandoned rice plantations along 
the St. Mary's River, where a compara- 
tively small outlay of capital would re- 
claim hundreds of acres of alluvial soil 
on a clay foundation, the very best for 
Irish and sweet potatoes, for forage and 
grain crops. The stiff clay soils of 
Thomas, Boggy, Funks, Mills, and 
Lafton, tributaries of the Nassau River, 
and of Little St. Mary's River, as well 
iis the marl lands near Callahan, and 



the big savanna on Cabbage Creek, are 
lands suitable for the cultivation of the 
sugar-cane, and in many instances a 
small capital laid out at the present time 
will purchase some of the most valuable 
lands. 

The clay bluffs along the St. Marys 
River, and the so-called sand hills in the 
northwestern corner of the county, form 
a third distinct body of agricultural 
lands. The former, in detached groups, 
offer soils retentive of manures, and cap- 
able of producing in perfection all the 
products of the region, and there are 
pleasant residences on the banks of this 
remarkable stream, where sixty miles 
from the coast the tall masts of vessels 
drawing sixteen feet of water surprise 
the traveller as he approaches its banks, 
dense with the moss-fringed cypress and 
the towering pine. The latter, sand 
islands of an older formation among the 
marshes and lagoons that early surround- 
ed them, and from which the present 
flat-woods arose, are the favorite choice 
for settlement of the herdsmen, who till 
the upland, manured by the somewhat 
antiquated system of cow-penning the 
herd that graze on the adjacent almost 
evergreen pastures of the flat woods. 
Both of these classes of lands are, best 
of all, adapted to the culture of the early 
peach, apple, pear and grape— samples 
of which, raised without system, care 
or culture, will astonish the northern 
tourist, two months in advance of the 
season he is accustomed to look for them, 
and of a quality that will compete with 
the best productions of the ^tiddle 
States. And there is this deep, quiet 
river right at the door of the cultivator 
of these highly prized luxuries to con- 
vey them to the steamboat wharves in 
Fernandina. Besides this stream, that 
deserves much more of the attention of 
the incoming settlers than it has received 
heretofore, offers on its clay bluffs the 



42 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



chances of locating further south than it 
is possible elsewhere, and on a deep 
outlet to the sea, brick-yards for the 
supply of the growing towns and Gov- 
ernment works in Florida, and of the 
West India markets. 

The balance of the lands of Nassau 
County are pine barrens, mostly sandy, 
and interspersed with numerous "bay- 
galls," cypress ponds, savannas, some 
of them marl-beds, all of them mines of 
muck, that best basis for all farm man- 
ures. The higher portion of these lands 
are cultivated by cow-penning, and 
yield a fair return in corn, sweet pota- 
toes, cotton and sugar-cane ; the lower 
portions furnish pasture for large herds 
of cattle. But it is in the natural 
growth in which rests the main wealth 
of this section. The yellow pine with 
which these flat woods are covered, fur- 
nishes a ready supply of ship and building 
material, and is an inexhaustible source 
for naval stores ; while the extreme ac- 
cessibility of every acre of land, makes 
these sources of wealth immediately 
available. To make an investment in 
such lands would not alone be profitable 
at first, but permanently so. 

In proof of these assertions numerous 
instances can be shown where persons, 
recently starting there with a very lim- 
ited capital, have amassed wealth in a 
few years, some by gardening, some by 
milling, some by logging, some with 
cattle raising, and others by the manu- 
facture of naval stores. 

Many of the lands described here can 
stUl be had from the United States un- 
der the Homestead Law. But by far 
the greater majority are held by the 
Florida liailrcjad and by the Trustees of 
the Internal Improvement Fund of 
the State. 

COLUMBIA COUNTY. 

This County, in geographical position, 
is advantageously and pleasantly located. 



It is bounded on the north by the State 
of Georgia, on the west by Hamilton 
and Suwannee Counties, on the south 
by Alachua County, and on the east by 
Bradford and Baker Counties. A large 
portion of this county is comprised of 
pine lands, but of superior quality. 
There are many fine hammocks, which 
abound in timber of almost every va- 
riety. It contains many lakes, Avhich 
abound in fish of superior quality. 

This county contains an area of about 
600 square miles, or about 380,000 
acres ; of this there are about 42,000 
acres cleared and under cultivation. The 
soil is mostly level, of a fertile, dark, 
sandy loam, with a subsoil of clay, very 
easy to clear, and retains fertilizers 
when applied as well as any land. 
Laud ranges in price according to the 
quality, etc., from one to twenty dol- 
lars per acre. 

Lake City, the county site, is a town 
of about 1,500 inhabitants, situated 
near the center of the county, and is as 
healthy a location as can be found. 

The industrial resources are cotton, 
corn, oats, wheat, rye, sugar-cane, 
potatoes, and all varieties of vegetables. 
Turpentine is extensively manufactured 
in some portions of the county. The 
timber business is not so extensively 
carried on as heretofore, but is an item 
of some importance. 

All varieties of fruit do well in this 
county, even oranges. Grape culture 
is destined to become one of the leading 
industrial pursuits — all varieties are 
successful. 

The population of the county is about 
9,000, and settlei's coming in are swell- 
ing the quota. Landholders are dis- 
posed to sell off portions of their farms on 
the most reasonable terms to settlers. 
Instances have come under my observa- 
tion, where farmers have given alternate 
farms of forty acres to worthy settlers. 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



43 



CLAY COUNTY. 

This County is bounded on the north 
by Duval, on the west by Bradford, on 
the east by St. Johns, on the south by 
Putnam County. The Land is nearly 
all pine. There are small bodies of 
swamp and hammock lands along Black 
Creek and other streams which are very 
productive. Land can be purchased at 
from 50 cents to $1 per acre. The St. 
Johns River flows along the eastern 
border of the county, the Black Creek 
is navigable for steamers to a point near 
the center of the county, and the rail- 
road from Cedar Keys to Fernandina 
passes along the western border. Good 
access is had to market for all kinds of 
produce. 

The county seat is at Green Cove 
Spring. It is situated on the St. Johns 
River, a short distance from Jackson- 
ville. 

Lands fertilized yield fairly to com- 
pensate labor ; corn, cotton, sugar-cane, 
etc., doing well. Grapes, oranges, 
peaches, plums, and all the smaller var- 
ieties of fruit can be raised abundantly. 

HAMILTON COUNTY. 

The people of Hamilton County are 
principally farmers. Their crops are 
remunerative in the extreme, and every 
variety of staple products are successful. 
Sixty bushels of corn per acre will give 
an idea of what has been raised in this 
county under fair fertilization. Almost 
every grade and quality of soil can be 
found. 

Along the streams there is a consider- 
able quantity of timber of almost every 
kind. On the Suwannee River alone 
there is enough to build a United States 
navy. The yellow pine is the most 
abundant timber, and is found almost 
all over the county. 

Land can be bought at prices to suit 
purchasers. Many settlers are buying 
and paying by installments on long time. 



The climate and health of this county 
can be boasted of. It is a great resort 
for invalids from the Northern cities. 

Fruit of every variety does well. Al- 
though fruit raising is a new thing here, 
still it instances success wherever tried. 

LIBERTY AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES. 

Liberty County is situated directly 
north of Franklin County, and adjoins 
Gadsden County toward the same point 
of the compass. Both counties are 
separated from Calhoun County on the 
north by the Apalachicola River, and 
from Leon and Wakulla Counties on 
the east by the Ocklochonee River. 
Liberty is very sparsely populated, and 
the inhabitants give very little attention 
to agriculture. It is an immense cattle 
range, but possesses as fine land as can be 
found in the State. The State has only 
about 600 acres of laud for sale in this 
county, as almost the entire county be- 
longs to what is known as the "Forbis 
Purchase." This land can be bought at 
from one to three dollars per acre. 

Apalachicola, the county seat, situ- 
ated at the mouth of the Apalachicola 
River, was, before the war, a point of 
great commercial interest. Within the 
last year some fine saw-mills were erected 
at Apalachicola, and are doing an im- 
mense business. The city is every way 
indicating a bright future. The popu- 
lation is about 2,000, and are all of the 
most industrious class. The oyster trade 
amounts to about 150,000 annually. 

Franklin County contains about 326,- 
000 acres of land, of which 164,000 are 
improved. The principal products are 
sweet and Irish potatoes, vegetables of 
every variety, sugar-cane, etc. Fruits 
of all kinds, oranges, lemons, figs, 
grapes, etc. 

Good fish and oysters all along the 
coast, and game of every kind in abund- 
ance. 



' 44 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



The county is well timbered, and no 
county presents a finer field for lumber- 
men. 

BAKER COUNTY. 

This county is situated in the north- 
western portion of the State, being 
separated from Georgia on the north by 
the St. Marys River ; it adjoins Nassau 
County on the east, Bradford on the 
south, and Columbia on the west. Its 
surface is generally level and overgrown 
with saw-palmetto and wire grass. It 
is one continuous forest of yellow and 
pitch pine and cypress. 

The J., P. and M. Railroad passes 
through the center of the county from 
east to west, affording ample facilities 
for transportation of timber. 

The manufacture of turpentine is a 
lucrative business in the county. 

The soil is generally very productive, 
and the climate is peculiarly adapted to 
grape culture. 

There is no healthier portion of the 
State than Baker County. 

Fruits and vegetables grow well, and 
can be made very profitable. 

BRADFORD COUNTY 

Is bounded on the north by Baker, on 
the south by Alachua, on the west by 
Columbia, and on the east by Clay 
County. The railway from Fernandina 
to Cedar Keys passing through its south- 
eastern end, gives transportation for tim- 
ber and agricultural products. The sur- 
face is like Baker County. The pine 
forests are its greatest wealth, and the 
manufacture of naval stores is extens- 
ively carried on along the line of railroad. 

The agricultural products of the 
county are similar to those of Alachua, 
Columbia and Baker. 

Grapes, peaches, strawberries, etc., 
grow in great quantities, and their cul- 
ture can be engaged in profitably. Land 
can be purchased at from 70 cents to $5 
per acre. 



JACKSON COUNTY. 

Jackson County is the gem of West 
Florida. It has within its boundaries 
the largest area of hammock land to be 
found in any county in the State, and 
offers inducements to the farmer, the 
fruit grower, the manufacturer, the 
lumberman, the tourist, and the invalid, 
which are not surpassed by those of any 
other section of the State. 

In climate it is similar to that of the 
range of counties stretched along the 
northern portion of the State, and is 
salubrious and healthy. 

Marina is the county seat, and is 
noted for the refinement and intelligence 
of its inhabitants. It is located near the 
center of the county. Greenwood is a 
thrifty village, nine miles north of Ma- 
rina, and located in the center of a 
large area of fertile and productive 
lands. Campbelltou is about eighteen 
miles north of Marina, and is a posper- 
ous village. Neal's Landing, Port 
Jackson, Hay wood's Landing, and Belle- 
vue are on the Chattahoochee River, 
and are points for reception and trans- 
portation of freight, and are thriving 
places. 

The soil is fertile, and every variety 
of pi'oduce yields bountifully. Oranges, 
grapes, lemons, peaches, figs, and in 
fact all varieties of fruit are prolific. 

Land can be purchased at from 12 to 
$10 per acre; and hospitality is every- 
where extended to the stranger. 

WASHINGTON COUNTY. 

The greater portion of the lands of 
this county are pine, and the surface is 
generally level. It constitutes an excel- 
lent range for cattle, and when culti- 
vated yields well. It is well timbered 
and there are several saw-mills operated 
successfully in the county. 

The greatest drawback to the county 
is the want of railroad transportation. 



DB. BIOBY'S PAPEBS ON FLO BID A. 



45 



Fruits of all varieties and the difi'erent 
kinds of produce do well. 

As to the people, they are hearty and 
hospitable, honest and industrious. The 
population of the county is about 1,000. 

CALHOUK COUNTY. 

This county is bounded on the north 
by Jackson, on the east by Gadsden, 
Liberty and Franklin, on the south by 
St. Joseph's Bay and the Gulf, and on 
the west by Washington County. The 
land is for the most part pine land, cov- 
ered with a very heavy growth of yel- 
low pine timber. Some of the most eli- 
gible mill sites are to be found in this 
county. The Apalachicola River run- 
ning along its entire eastern border, of- 
fers every facility for the transportation 
of produce and timber to the Gulf coast. 
The population is very small, and the 
resources of the county are but little 
developed. Land can be purchased at 
from 75 cents to f 10 per acre. All the 
productions of Gadsden, Franklin and 
Liberty Counties can be grown in this. 

WALTON AND HOLMES COUNTIES. 

These counties lie between Santa 
Rosa and Washington Counties in the 
western part of the State, and partake 
largely of the characteristics of those 
counties. Their lands are principally 
pine, and their wealth is to be found in 
the timber with which they are covered. 
The Choctawhatchie Bay extends along 
the entire southern part of Walton, and 
presents some unsurpassed milling sites. 
The population of these counties is ex- 
ceedingly small. 

We will next introduce the reader to 
the counties of Central Florida. 

ALACPIUA COUNTY. 

Geographically, this is the central 
county of the State. The population of 
the county is about 17,000. We find 
all varieties of soil and surface in this 
county, from the poorest pine to the 
richest hammock. There is direct com. 



munication by rail with Cedar Keys on 
the Gulf, and Fernandina on the At- 
lantic, giving good outlets for shipping. 
Cotton, corn, sugar-cane, rice, oats, 
etc., yield heavy crops. Grapes in 
every variety, also all fruits, as well as 
oranges are raised t« perfection. 

MARION COUNTY. 

Marion County is situated in the cen- 
tral and narrowest part of the State. It 
is one of the largest, most fertile and 
productive counties in Florida. The 
Ochlawaha River passes nearly through 
its center, and is navigated by numbers 
of steamers. 

Ocala, the county seat, is a growing 
town in the interior of the county. 

Few counties in the State have a 
more varied soil. It contains fifty-two 
townships, making 1,872 square miles. 
Twelve hundred homesteads have been 
located in this county, by actual settlers, 
in the past few years. 

The highness and dryness of this sec- 
tion of the State is remarkable, and it is 
almost needless to say that such a county 
is healthy in the extreme. There is very 
little wet or marshy land to be found in 
this county. The lands, both high and 
low, are well timbered. 

The people of this county were slow 
in engaging in tropical fruit culture, 
but now Marion bids fair to be the 
largest fruit-growing county in this 
State. Oranges, pine-apples, lemons, 
bananas, etc., are produced in extreme 
excellence. Population, 10,000. 

PUTNAM COUNTY. 

The western portion of the county is 
undulating and interspersed with num- 
erous lakes, which add variety and 
beauty to the scenery. The larger por- 
tion of this section consists of pine land, 
but there is also good hammock. Here 
are the cotton plantations of the olden 
time, some of them now successfully 



46 



DR. RJGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



cultivated, while others are lying idle. 
For cotton and general farming this is 
the richest and best part of the state. 
Nearer the St. John's River, the land is 
low, flat pinoy woods, valuable princi- 
pally for its timber and as a feeding 
range for cattle. On the east side of 
the St. John's River the land is ham- 
mock, rising back into flat pine land. 

Palatka, the county seat, is on the 
St. John's River, seventy-five miles 
south of Jacksonville. Population, 
1,500. It is a thriving town, shipping 
large quantities of cotton, oranges, 
sugar, and other productions. It is a fav- 
orite resort for invalids. 

Some of the finest orange groves in 
the State are in this county. 

The price of land varies from 70 cts. 
to $100 jicr acre. Improved farms in 
the western part of the county can be 
bought at $10 per acre. 

This county has the usual varieties of 
wood, and numbers of persons are en- 
gaged along the St. John's in the logging 
business. 

Putnam County has an area of nOO 
square miles, of which about 15,000 
acres are improved. Population of 
county about 4,500. As a whole it is 
as healthy as any other part of the 
State. Every agricultural production 
is raised in this county, besides numer- 
ous tropical fruits not matured in other 
counties farther north. 

ST. John's county. 

This county is bounded on the north 
by Duval County, on the south by 
Volusia, on the west by the St. John's 
River, which divides it from Clay and 
Putnam Counties, and on the east by 
the Atlantic; Ocean. The soil is mostly 
sandy, and the bulk is of an inferior 
quality. There is a great deal of what 
is called "scrub land" in this county, 
and is scarcely available for agricultural 
purposes. The county for miles around 



St. Augustine is made up almost entirely 
of this land. 

St. Augustine is the chief point of 
interest. The city is fifteen miles dis- 
tant from the St. John's River, with 
which it is connected by railroad. 

Orange culture was the principal in- 
dustry at one time in the history of the 
county. A grove of twenty-five or 
thirty trees in full bearing enabled the 
fortunate possessor to live without labor 
and in comparative affluence. 

Market gardening can be made very 
profitable in St. John's County. The 
hotels and boarding-houses of St. Aug- 
ustine are crowded with visitors during 
the winter, and a ready market is at 
hand for a much larger supply than is 
now furnished. 

LAFAYETTE & LEVY COUNTIES. 

What has been said concerning 
Alachua County is true of both these 
adjoining counties. Some of the finest 
hammoc4i. land in the State is to be 
found in Levy County. This land will 
yield, without any attempt at fertiliza- 
tion, 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of sugar per 
acre. It is all in the market and can be 
purchased at a very low figure. 

The railroad from Fernandina passes 
through the centre of the county and 
terminates at Cedar Keys. The Su- 
wannee River passes along its western 
boundary, separating it from Lafayette 
County, so that the products have a 
ready access to market. This is also 
true of Lafayette County. The Su- 
wannee sweeps along its entire eastern 
border, separating it from Levy, Alachua 
and Suwannee Counties, and the Stein- 
hatchee River divides it from Taylor 
County on the west. It has, besides, a 
Gulf coast of forty or fifty miles in 
extent. 

VALUSIA COUNTY. 

There is no county in the State offer- 
ing greater inducements to the traveler 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



47 



or permanent settler. The climate from 
November to May is a perpetual com- 
mingling of the Indian Summer of au- 
tumn and the balmiest days of spring. 
Most of the time there is a gentle breeze 
coming inland from the even-tempered 
waters of the Gulf Stream, or seaward 
from the pine forests and orange groves. 
The nights are pleasantly cool, sleep-in- 
viting and refreshing. The dawn and 
sunrise open a scene of splendor and 
loveliness to the stranger's eye, and na- 
ture greets with a jubilee abandon of 
sound, in every pitch and variety, let 
loose from myriad throats of birds gath- 
ered from every clime. There is no 
county in the State, or on the Atlantic 
coast, where Nature has provided supe- 
rior sources of natural beauty and en- 
joyment. 

Fish of the finest quality and great 
variety crowd the waters. Oysters, ex- 
cellent in flavor and size. Curlew, 
cranes, quails, turkeys, deer, bears, and 
other game, range under the pines, in 
the savannas, and through the dense 
hammocks, thrilling the sportsman with 
new excitement at every nook and turn. 

A sea-beach, hard as a plank road, 
smooth and clean, where a walk or bath, 
or drive is always pleasant, invigorating 
and exciting. 

The climate and soil are favorable to 
winter-gardening, which, properly con- 
. ducted, will bring rich returns of fruits 
and vegetables for home consumption and 
foreign markets. Everywhere the soil 
and climate are warm enough for vigor- 
ous winter-growth. Pineapples, bana- 
nas, guavas and other tropical fruits 
mature, and oranges are raised in abund- 
ance and in the highest degree of super- 
ior excellence. 

The lands of this county are variable 
like most others in the State, but the 
majority are rich and desirable. In 
many places the lands are rolling, then 



drop off into valleys well sheltered, and 
adapted to orange and other fruit cul- 
ture. Fertilizers are everywhere abun- 
dant and accessible, and with their use 
the lightest soils become extremely pro- 
ductive. The water is pure and good. 
Here can be seen men directly from the 
North, working in the field every sum- 
mer day, enjoying perfect health. 
There are instances on record in which 
4,000 pounds of sugar have been pro- 
duced from a single acre in this county. 

There are several thriving settlements 
and villages on its eastern border, among 
which we will name Port Orange, Day- 
tona, New Smyrna and Halifax City. 
These are promising places, and will no 
doubt be the center of commercial inter- 
est as the State developes. This portion 
of the State is now attracting the atten- 
tion of permanent settlers, and Valusia 
having desirable seaboard points and 
harbors, will develop moi-e rapidly 
than the more inland counties. Any 
man who is willing to work, can make a 
good living, start an orange grove, and 
in a few years become independent in 
this county. I do not say this from 
mere speculation ; but there are numer- 
ous instances here, where settlers have 
come to this county a few years back 
without anything, and by industry are 
to-day wealthy. 

Halifax River, on the Atlantic coast, 
is a sheet of pure tidal water half a mile 
wide, extending from the inlet north- 
ward thirty-six miles, and navigable the 
whole distance. North of Port Orange 
the river is free from islands or marsh, 
bounded by shores clean and beautiful, 
from which, in many places, the main- 
lands gradually rise for a quarter of a 
mile, thus affording the most delightful 
location for residences and villages. 

The Hillsborough Kiver extends 
southward about thirty-five miles. It 
has the same advantages of inlet and 



48 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



navigation throughout as Halifax, ex- 
cept that in some places its channel is 
less straight and its water a little more 
shallow. 

Unimproved land can be had at from 
one to five dollars per acre. Private, 
improved lands can be purchased at from 
three to one hundred dollars per acre^ 
according to improvements, etc. 

Pasturage is good all the year. Flow- 
ers bloom every day in the year. The 
honey-bee finds an abundance of mater- 
ial at all seasons, and is very profitably 
raised. Stock-raising and dairying will 
amply reward investment, and sheep 
and poultry are easily kept and do well. 

All the staple crops do exceedingly 
well. Corn has yielded forty to sixty 
bushels to the acre ; potatoes 2C0 to 300 
bushels to the acre. Melons ripen by 
the middle of May, and garden vege- 
tables are on the tables of settlers all the 



year. 



ORANGE COUNTY. 



This county lies directly west of Va- 
lusia, and compares favorably in soil, 
climate, productions, etc. There seems 
to be a rapid improvement extending all 
over .this county. AVithiu a few years 
small settlements have grown to respect- 
able-sized towns, containing many 
stores doing a good business, and neat, 
commodious residences and houses of 
worship. The peculiar adaptability of 
this county to the successful raising of 
the orange, lemon, and all tropical 
fruits, is attracting the stream of immi- 
gration to this section, and each year 
there is a large increase in permanent 
settlers. 

The county is now studded with or- 
ange groves varying in extent from one 
to one hundred acres, and during the 
past year new groves are springing up 
everywhere. This county bids fair to 
become one vast orange grove, and that 
without any fear of overstocking the 



market, as the supply of Florida oranges 
will never exceed the demand. 

The most remunerative field crop is 
sugar-cane, and can be raised on land 
that is not suitable for orange trees. It 
requires rich land, or that which has 
been highly manured. It will not pay 
to attempt to raise it upon poor land, as 
it is an exceedingly exhausting crop. 
Swamp muck, which is readily access- 
ible to most lands of the county, has 
proved to be one of the best manures 
for it, especially when composted with 
lime or ashes. The cane, when planted 
upon rich land, and the proper mode of 
cultivation pursued, can be relied on to 
rattoon for five or six years without re- 
planting, and yields from 300 to 400 
gallons of beautiful golden syrup, or 
from 1,200 to 2,000 pounds of sugar per 
acre, besides the molasses from the drip. 
Seed cane sufficient to plant an acre will 
cost $50, and this will produce seed 
enough to plant five acres the next year. 

Orange County cotton has a high 
rej^utation in market for fineness and 
length of fibre. The usual yield is a 
333 pound bale from three acres of pine 
land. Short staple cotton, where tried, 
has done well, producing on good land 
an average bale per acre, and will prove 
the best paying cotton for this county. 

Tobacco, both Virginia and Cuba 
varieties, succeed here. As high as 
1,G00 pounds have been raised upon one 
acre. The climate is so mild that three 
cuttings can be made a year. The plant, 
generally continues to gi-ow throughout 
the winter. 

Upland rice will pay to raise for fam- 
ily use. When planted on low, rather 
moist land, the plant will sucker and 
yield a second cutting, often amounting 
to half a crop. Twenty to thirty bushels 
of rough rice is the usual average per 
acre. 

Sweet Potatoes yield from 150 to 400 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



49 



bushels per acre, depending very much 
on the variety planted, character of soil, 
etc. It is a crop that pays well, and 
requires but little labor. 

Corn does well, and garden vegetables 
in great profusion and variety all the 
year round. In fact all vegetation can 
be raised successfully. 

Mellonville, Fort Keed, and Sanford 
on Lake Monroe are thriving places. 
There are numbers of saw-mills through- 
out the county. Everywhere enterprise 
and future wealth and success are ap- 
parent. 

Situated as it is in a low southern 
latitude, the natural supposition would 
be that Orange County must be a hot 
place ; almost unendurable. The fact is, 
however, entirely the reverse ; the ther- 
mometer rarely getting higher than 92° 
in the shade during summer, and seldom 
as low as the freezing point in the win- 
ter. The nights are almost uniformly 
cool enough to require some bed cover- 
ing. Being near the center of the pen- 
insula, which will average ninety miles 
in width, the inhabitants enjoy a con- 
stant succession of sea breezes, both 
from the Atlantic Ocean on the east and 
the Gulf of Mexico on the west, giving 
them a climate unsurpassed, and a salu- 
brity of atmosphere that insures good 
health. 

Orange County has all varieties of 
land, from the low savannas of the St. 
Johns River to the high, rolling lands of 
the interior ; from the pine land to the 
rich hammock. The majority of the 
lands are pine, and often of good qual- 
ity. The cost of clearing is about 31.50 
per acre. If there is undergrowth to be 
cut off it will cost more. To clear ham- 
mock land, it will cost $15 to $20 per 
acre ; shrubbing off the undergrowth 
and cutting off all trees under ten inches 
in diameter. 

Lands vary in price according to loca- 
4 



tion, quality, etc, between the ex- 
tremes of seventy cents to SlOO per acre. 

HERNANDO COUNTY. 

This county has some characteristics 
which are peculiar to it alone. It lies south 
and west of the Withlacoochee River, 
has a front on the Gulf of Mexico of 
nearly sixty miles, and there is nowhere 
a sea-coast more inviting to the immi- 
grant than that from the mouth of the 
Withlacoochee to the Anclote, a slope 
of country containing not less than six 
harbors, where steamers of ordinary 
draft and coasting vessels can always 
enter. The numerous bays and chan- 
nels contain myriads of fish and oysters 
of superior quality. The coast has little 
or no surf, and consequently no beach. 
For this reason it is well-timbered and 
fertile to the very water's edge. Where 
there is a rolling surf there is always a 
wide beach of sand and shell. Along 
this coast this is prevented by the St. 
Martin's Reef, which runs parallel with 
the coast, some ten or fifteen miles from 
the shore. This forms a perfect break- 
water to this section, and however rough 
the Gulf may be, its effects are not felt 
between the reef and shore. Along this 
reef there is an extensive sponging busi- 
ness done. At times 60 or 80 vessels 
may be seen collecting sponges. 

This coast section is well suited to the 
growing of most of the tropical fruits, 
sugar-cane and nearly all kinds of gar- 
den vegetables. It has also the ad- 
vantage of a shipping port at every five 
or six miles. It has a healthy and salu- 
brious climate, with bracing sea air, and 
deer, fowl, fish and oysters in great 
abundance. 

This beautiful county, with as rich 
lands as any in the world, and as finely 
timbered, with an admirable climate 
and average health, has remained almo.st 
a wilderness. This, no doubt, i ; owiiig 



50 



DR. EIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



chiefly to its being isolated from the 
Atlantic. It needs a railroad, or some 
other communication, to connect it with 
the cities on the Atlantic seaboard. The 
county, however, has taken a step in 
the right direction, and orange culture, 
and stock raising are indicating success. 
There are some of the richest lands in 
the State in this county, and every var- 
iety of surface is to be met. Fruit 
growing, and general agriculture are 
successful. There are some of the finest 
pasturages for cattle in this county that 
can be found in the State, and will 
compare favorably with the blue grass 
regions of Kentucky. Few counties 
have a better climate for the production 
of tropical fruits. And I believe I never 
tasted finer oranges than those grown in 
the neighborhood of Brookville. 

Brookville is about eighteen miles 
from the coast, and is surrounded by 
some of the richest and most elevated 
lands of the State. It is near the bor- 
der of Annuttehlaga Hammock, the 
largest and most compact body of rich 
land to be found in Florida. This ham- 
mock extends fourteen miles in length 
and from four to seven miles in width, 
and adjoining it is Chicichatta and many 
other detached hammocks of the same 
quality of soil. There may be as good 
lands in other parts of the State, but 
there is certainly not so large a quantity 
in so compact a body. Taking Brook- 
ville as the center, and within a radius 
of ten miles there is not less than 100,- 
000 acres of first-class hammock lands, 
and perhaps as much or more of first- 
class pine land, amounting probably to 
more than 200,000 acres of the best 
quality of land in the above compass. 

Land is reasonable in price, and settlers 
can purchase well-improved farms at 
low figures. A few years will change 
matters, for residents are beginning to 
see the county's wants, and at no very 



distant day this section will have the 
proper communication with the Atlantic. 

SUMTER COUNTY. 

Sumter County, with Orange County 
on the east and Hernando on the west, 
compares favorably with the other 
counties of Central Florida, in richness 
of soil, fruit growing and general agri- 
culture. As to fruit growing, perhaps 
no portion of Florida has shown more 
interest, energy and zeal, according to 
its means, in propagating the difierent 
kinds of fruit suitable to be grown in 
this latitude. So general is the inter- 
est, that in every portion of the county 
can be seen thrifty orange groves. 

Leesburg, situated at the head of 
navigation on Lake Griftin, is a thriving 
town. A few years ago this was quite 
a small place, but to-day is evidencing 
the future prosperity of the surrounding 
country. 

There are some fine farming lands 
among the rich hammocks of the With- 
lacoochee River, and on Lakes Pansoff"- 
kee, Harris and Griffin, and other 
smaller bodies of both hammock and 
pine land are scattered throughout the 
county. On these lands fine crops of 
sugar-cane and corn can be successfully 
cultivated, while the lighter or sandy 
hammocks, and the better grades of 
pine land, make excellent crops of long 
cotton, peas, and potatoes in great 
abundance, and frequently good crops 
of cane and com. These crops are gen- 
erally certain, scarcely any falling below 
a good average, unless some casualty 
should occur, which is not often the case. 

In addition to the crops mentioned, 
tobacco could undoubtedly be made a 
profitable portion of almost every farm. 
Experiments in difierent sections of the 
county have proven the adaptation of 
its soil and climate to the production of 
this article, which, if cultivated to a 
proper extent, would in a great degree 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



51 



diversify our crops, curtail the acreage 
of cotton (so universally ruinous to the 
farming interest), and retain within the 
county thousands of dollars annually 
drained from it to enrich other sections 
of the country. The arrowroot and 
cassava, both rich with starch of the 
finest quality, especially the former, can 
be raised here in great abundance, and 
if properly cultivated and prepared for 
market, would add much to the farming 
interest of this county. 

On Lake Griffin are some very fine 
and promising orange groves, which al- 
ready begin to fringe the borders of this 
pretty lake and to mark the spot where 
some enterprising settler has dotted the 
shore with his residence. On Lake 
Harris are some magnificent young 
groves just coming into bearing. The 
rapid growth of these trees is not ex- 
celled by any in the country, and fully 
demonstrates the adaptation of these 
hammock lands to the growth of the 
orange and all kindred fruits. 

In addition to the orange, attention is 
also directed to the cultivation of vari- 
ous other fruits — the citron, grapes, 
bananas, pine-apples, guavas, shaddock 
and lemons, — all of which are success- 
fully raised. 

We will next take up the counties of 
Southern Florida. Of these, the most 
important is 

MANATEE COUNTY. 

This county is situated in the south- 
western portion of the State, and em- 
braces within its limits about 4,000 
square miles, scarcely one-twentieth of 
which is fit for cultivation, being mostly 
of a low, flat, swampy nature, subject 
to overflow in the wet season. There is 
about 15,000 acres of land owned by 
actual settlers, and only 3,000 under 
cultivation. 

The principal pursuit in this county 



is stock raising — some men owning as 
many as 10,000 head of cattle. Cuba 
and Key West aflbrd a ready market 
for stock at good prices. Hogs are also 
raised to some extent, and some horses. 
There are but few sheep in the county, 
but the raising of them could be made 
very profitable. Farming is not carried 
on to any greater extent than what is 
necessary for home consumption. 

What is wanted here is a railroad, 
extending from Charlotte Harbor to the 
St. Johns River ; then agriculture and 
fruit-raising would receive the attention 
they deserve, and Northern markets in 
mid-winter would be supplied with an 
abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit. 

This whole section of country abounds 
in game — in fact deer are so numerous 
that they are troublesome, frequently 
destroying whole crops of sweet-potatoes 
many men supporting their families by 
the sale of venison and deer skins. It 
is no uncommon thing for a man to kill 
a dozen deer in a single short hunt. 
Expert hunters finding a herd of deer 
at feed, easily detect which is the leader 
— he shot down, the rest play around 
until all successively fall victims to his 
unerring rifle. The water courses all 
abound in fish, and on the coast particu- 
larly mullet, sheephead, redfish, etc., are 
caught in great quantities. The coast 
also abounds in the finest of oysters. 

A large number of settlers have re- 
cently located on the Manatee River, 
from which point connection is had by 
steamer to Cedar Keys and Key West, 
thus affording ready shipment for fruit, 
etc. These settlers are turning their 
attention especially to fruit-raising, some 
of them being Northern men of intelli- 
gence and means. 

Sarasota, a point on the west coast, 
selected as a site for a large sanitarium, 
is settling up very rapidly with men of 
this class ; and there is not a particle of 



52 



DB. RIGBY'S PAPEBS ON FLOBIDA. 



doubt that were facilities for transporta- 
tion afforded, this county would soon be 
populated by a desirable class of settlers. 
Extend the Southern Railway through 
to Charlotte Harbor, and then will be 
opened up to the county, through the 
influence of the energetic, intelligent 
class of settlers, with capital at their 
command, who will locate here, the vast 
resources of this county ; its timber — 
pine, live oak, cedar, hickory, cypress, 
maple, etc. ; the products of its soil ; all 
the tropical fruits ; its beef, the sweetest 
and finest in the world ; its fisheries, etc. 

As it is, the county is almost a barren 
wilderness, save here and there, at in- 
tervals of three or four miles apart, a 
squatter on the public lands, cultivating 
a potato patch and tending his cattle. 

It is impossible to give the exact pop- 
ulation of the county, but 2,000 is a 
fair estimate. 

HIIXSBOROUGH COUNTY. 

The resources of this county have 
hardly as yet, been touched. Its great- 
est drawback, like most of the Gulf 
counties, is transportation. At no dis- 
tant day a railroad must run down 
through South Florida, and settlers will 
find in this section as desirable locations 
as can be found elsewhere. 

Oranges and other fruits are raised 
successfully. In fact what has been 
said of surrounding counties, in regard 
to agriculture, can be said of this. 

Tampa is one of the most important 
places in Southern Florida ; population, 
2,000. It is situated on Tampa Bay. 
Population of countj'^, 4,000. 

The county has its present drawbacks, 
Mke all unsettled counties, but I am 
fully persuaded, from what I have seen, 
that this section has as great resources, 
and offers as many inducements to set- 
tlers, as any other part of the State. 

Clear Water Harbor is situated in 



the west part of Hillsborough County, 
and five or six miles west of Tampa Bay. 
The harbor is from twelve to fifteen miles 
in length, and about two in width. 
There are two inlets into the bay. The 
northwest affords about eight or nine 
feet of water on the bar, and the west 
about five feet of water. The bay is 
well situated for business and pleasure, 
affording an abundance of fish, clams 
and oysters. The region of Clear Water 
is noted for its beauty and health. The 
beach is high, from which can be had a 
full view of the great Gulf of Mexico, 
and vessels can be seen passing far out 
at sea. There is a narrow peninsula 
extending down between Tampa Bay 
and Clear Water Harbor that is about 
thirty miles in length, and from eight to 
twelve miles in breadth, with a popula- 
tion of some 1,200. 

This is a decidedly healthy portion of 
the State. The stranger will be sur- 
prised with meeting numerous persons 
who have passed over one hundred 
years of age. The mortality is very 
slight in this section, and epedemic sick- 
nesses are almost unknown. The deaths 
mostly occurring among the aged. 

The climate is so mild that the farmer 
can plant and gather something every 
month in the year. The advantages of 
such a climate as this to a poor man is 
considerable. His winter clothing is a 
trifle, hLs fuel is nothing — he loses no 
time from labor for cold Aveather. The 
range is good and stock requires no feed 
in winter. A great variety, and the 
finest quality of garden vegetables can 
be raised all the year ; in fact no part 
of the United States can produce any 
better than are raised here. 

BREVARD COUNTY. 

This county has many natural attrac- 
tions. The great Okeechobee Lake lies 
in the southern portion of this county. 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



63 



as likewise the Valley of the Kissimmee. | 
This region is as yet undeveloped, but ! 
when the State is better populated, and 
the proper system of drainage adapted, 
this will be the great sugar region of j 
Florida. Indian River lies in this I 
county. This river gives from its head, 
in connection with the St. Lucie, an 
uninterrupted navigation to Jupiter In- 
let, 175 miles, and is nowhere so much 
as a mile from the sea. At the head of 
Indian River there is a large, low ham- 
mock, regarded as very rich sugar land. 
After leaving this hammock, the land 
upon the banks of the river is mostly 
third-rate pine ; the banks are high and 
in many places very beautiful. The 
orange can be cultivated here with great 
success. There are small bodies of ham- 
mock at many places upon the river. 
AVhenever of easy access, this section 
will be the great resort for invalids and 
pleasure-seekers, and will have in a few 
years some of the largest hotels for the 
accommodation of visitors in the State. 
The fisheries here will some day be of 
great value. It is almost impossible to 
exaggerate the quantity of fish to be 
caught at many places upon this river. 

It has been long thought that the 
mosquitoes of this section were an effect- 
ual barrier to its settlement and cultiva- 
tion, but this is a mistake. Mosquitoes 
are indigenous along the whole Atlantic 
coast from Maine southward, and Flor- 
ida has her proportionate share of them ; 
but when the length of her coast, and 
her numerous inland lakes, rivers, 
creeks and swamps are considered, to- 
gether with her mild winters and super- 
abundant summer rains, the wonder is 
to me that they are not more numerous 
and troublesome, and "that in many lo- 
calities the inhabitants enjoy almost en- 
tire exemption from them throughout 
the year. 

It is generally believed that the 



species of mosquito infecting the Indian 
River country is propagated in the de- 
caying grass, and the humus which the 
absence of fires for years has allowed to 
accumulate ; and this opinion seems to 
be confirmed by the fact that just in 
proportion as the burning of the woods 
takes place, the insects are found to 
decrease in number. 

The Indian River mosquitoes are 
smaller, and more frail and clumsy than 
those found in Georgia. The gallinip- 
pers and blind mosquitoes of the St. 
John's River are never seen here. The 
mosquito season commences about the 
1st of June, with the showers, and fre- 
quently lasts but a few weeks, when the 
insects disappear as suddenly as they 
come. They are to be found in the 
humid atmosphere of densely shaded 
swamps, and never in the day-time to 
transcend their shady limits. 

Along the entire length of Indian 
River, the parallel coast is mainly a 
deep one. Large wrecks are thrown 
ashore, and damaged cargoes strew the 
land. The beach is narrow, and the 
bluffs high and abrupt, with no swamps 
or marshes, except toward the southern 
extremity. The prevailing southeast 
winds are constantly and gently sweep- 
ing the banks of the river, driving the 
mosquitoes into the country beyond. 
They cannot stand light, wind or smoke, 
and are easily excluded by a bar. 

The many fabulous stories which have 
been told of the insects of the Indian 
River country are mainly the result of 
the wonderful growth which such 
"hearsay" tales are wont to make in the 
fertile minds of imaginative narrators, 
as they pass from lip to lip. I was so 
dismayed by these exaggerations as I 
first passed up the St. John's River, on 
my way to Indian River, that had I not 
been ashamed to turn back, I should 
have probably never seen what I con- 



54 



DR. ItlGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



sider the most beautiful, healthy and 
fertile country of which I have any 
knowledge, and am satisfied that the in- 
sects will not interfere with the comfort 
of anybody. 

This county is fast showing the effects 
of energy and capital, and it is being 
demonstrated that not only the wild 
l)ea.<t, the Indian and the settler can 
i^tand the insects, but the delicate women 
and children are happy and contented 
in their new homes, and hopeful in pro- 
spect of the golden harvest of the future. 

POLK COUNTY. 

The surface of this county is what 
may be termed gradually undulating. 
The lands are hammock, pine and 
prairie. The prairie lands are vast 
plains or beautiful savannas — dressed in 
luxuriant verdure and living green — 
dotted ever and anon with clusters of 
trees, oasis-like, giving a romantic view 
to the eye, if "distance lends enchant- 
ment to the view." The prairies are the 
favorite-resort for herds of cattle, with 
deer and other game, which roam and 
feed on its fragrant herbage. The ham- 
mock and pine lands are rich. 

The rivers and lakes afford innumer- 
able quantities of fish and water-fowl, 
such as duck, snipe, crane, water-tur- 
key, marsh-hen, and a variety of others, 
of beautiful plumage. The forests 
abound in enough of game to tempt the 
cupidity of any hunter, such as deer, 
bear, panther, wild-cat, racoon, opos- 
sum, foxes, rabbits and squirrels, with 
thousands of turkeys, partridges, etc., 
and during the periodical inundation of 
the flats and prairies of this section, 
which occur from June 15th to Septem- 
ber 15th, if any one wished to embark 
in the business, they could gather 100 
bushels of frogs per acre, and enough 
alligators to fence them in with. 

The population of the county is 
3,500. Bartow, the county seat, is 



located in a very fertile and healthy sec- 
tion. The climate is temperate, serene, 
and genial as any land beneath the sun. 
The citizens of the county are ever kind, 
hospitable and generous. Stock-raising 
constitutes the principal production of 
the county, which find a ready market 
in Cuba and Key West. 

DADE COUNTY. 

This county embraces the greater part 
of the southern extremity of Florida. 
It has within its limits most of that por- 
tion of the State known as the Ever- 
glades. This singular feature of South- 
ern Florida, which is world-renowned, 
and has excited the wonder and aston- 
ishment of the tourist, is simply a shal- 
low lake of vast extent. As is indicated 
by its name, it presents one of the 
grandest spectacles of semi-tropical rich- 
ness to be found on the continent of 
America. It is one of Nature's mag- 
nificent exhibitions of vegetation, which 
strikes the eye with wonder and delight. 
The water is from six inches to six feet 
in depth, and teems with aquatic and 
semi-aquatic grasses and plants. Out 
of the surface of the lake rise innumer- 
able small islands, containing from one 
to one hundred acres of land. These 
islands are covered over with a growth 
of cypress, sweet-bay, crab-wood, mas- 
tic, cocoa palms, cabbage palmetto, and 
live and water oaks ; beneath which 
morning glories, lilies, and beautiful 
flowers in almost endless variety bloom, 
and around which strange pai'asitic 
plants and vines, like huge serpents, 
twine themselves ; the whole presenting 
a scene of surpassing beauty. The 
water is pure and clear, and abounds in 
fish, turtle, and that less desirable pro- 
duction, alligators. Through the islands 
the deer and black bear roam. The 
panther makes his lair in the long 
grass. Wildcats in great numbers hide 
themselves in the gray moss which 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



55 



drapes and festoons the trees, while the 
gorgeous colors of the wood-duck, the 
ibis and the gallinule delight the eye at 
every turn. 

Around the Everglades is a margin 
of prairie, from half a mile to a 
mile in breadth, and comprises some 
of the richest land to be found in 
the United States, and has a produc- 
tive capacity for every variety of vege- 
table life known in the tropics, that is 
unsurpassed. 

The soil of Dade County is sandy, and 
is adapted for the cultivation of Sea 
Island cotton, which is here perennial, 
and can be picked at almost all seasons 
of the year. Along Biscayne Bay, to- 
bacco, equal to the best grown in Cuba, 
can be cultivated ; while the banana, 
plantain, cocoa-nut, guava, sapadilla, 
pomegi'anate, mammee, tamarind, pine- 
apple, lime, lemon, citron, orange and 
every other variety of tropical fruit can 
be grown here successfully. The pine- 
apple is certain to become a staple pro- 
duction of Dade County, not only on 
account of the superior quality of the 
fruit raised here, but also from the fact 
that with proper means of transporta- 
tion it can be placed in the Northern 
markets a greal deal earlier than the 
Cuban or Bahamian fruit. Grapes 
ripen here in May, and are of superior 
quality. The finest varieties of figs in 
great abundance. 

Dade County is the most sparsely 
populated county in Florida. This has 
been owing to the fact that until within 
the last few years but little has been 
known of this section. Lands are worth 
from seventy -five cents to one dollar per 
acre. The climate is exceedingly agree- 
able and conducive to health. The ther- 
mometer throughout the year shows a 
temperature of about 75° — the extremes 
being 51° and 92°. It is never visited 
by frost, and the heat of mid-summer is 



much less oppressive than at New York 
or places farther north. 

Most of the islands or keys of the 
Florida Reef, extending from Dry Tor- 
tugas to Virginia Key, properly form a 
part of this county. Indian Key is one 
of the few islands of the reef that can be 
called inhabited. It has been a ren- 
dezvous of the wreckers for many years. 
The whole island is under cultivation, 
and almost every variety of tropical 
fruit is grown to perfection. 

MONROE COUNTY. 

This county is bounded on the north 
by Manatee County, on the east by 
Dade, and on the south and west by 
the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida 
Straits. The Caloosahatchie separates 
it from Manatee County. At the 
mouth of this river is Punta Rassa, a 
place of considerable importance during 
the Indian wars. A fortified block- 
house and other Government buildings 
yet remain. A little above the mouth 
is the garrison of Fort Meyers, a most 
delightful situation. 

Of the archipelago within the limits 
of Monroe County, the island of Key 
West is the most important. This place 
has long enjoyed a very high reputation 
as a resort for invalids, and its claims 
are undoubtedly of the first order. Here 
the invalid in quest of health, can find a 
delightful climate, and all the necessaries 
and comforts of life in abundance. The 
island is about five miles in length and 
one in width. The city of Key West is 
situated at the western extremity, where 
there is a large and commodious harbor, 
of great depth, and incalculable import- 
ance in a commercial point of view. The 
principal industry is cigar making, al- 
though all the tropical fruits are raised 
in abundance. The city is rapidly in- 
creasing in population and wealth. An- 
other industry is wrecking. Key West 



56 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



is the principal rendezvous of the wreck- 
ers along the Florida coast. Besides 
these industries, it is the principal point 
for the shipment of cattle from the 
ranges of the southern portion of the 
State for Cuba. 

Most of the lands of Monroe County- 
are worthless for purposes of agriculture 
at present, but it contains savannas and 
bodies of hammock land unsurpassed in 
richness, and which, with a proper sys- 
tem of drainage, will be held in the 
highest estimation for the cultivation of 
tropical fruits. 

Since traveling through Florida, I 
have received numerous letters from 
individuals desirous of a more general 
description of particular counties, etc. 
Persons wishing any information in re- 
gard to Florida, as to prices of land, 
crops raised and profits, desirable loca- 
tions for visit or settlement, society in 
each locality, etc., can address me per 
letter, in care of the publisher, inclosing 
one dollar as fee for correspondence. 

I will now take the reader through 
the principal cities and towns of the 
State, giving a fair idea of each as I 
proceed. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

Jacksonville is the most populous city 
in the State, and in commerce, industry 
and wealth, is taking rapidly a high 
position among the cities of the Atlantic 
seaboard. It is in Duval County, about 
twenty-five miles from the mouth of the 
St. John's Kiver. Its population proper 
is about 10,000, but during the winter 
it often swells to 20,000. From its situ- 
ation at the mouth of a magnificent 
river, which, with its tributaries, is 
navigable a distance of one thousand 
miles, and draining a region of coun- 
try unparalleled for the richness of 
its soil and variety of its produc- 
tions, with the increasing enterprise 
of its merchants, and populace, it is 



destined, at no very distant day, to 
be one of the great commercial marts of 
the world. 

The principal business at present is the 
manufacture of lumber, and frequently 
the river is dotted with a dozen or two 
of foreign and home vessels awaiting 
their turn to be supplied. In the space 
of four miles up and down the river a 
dozen steam saw-mills are kept con- 
stantly at work throughout the year, 
and manufacture about 50,000,000 feet 
annually. There are also numerous 
mills on the railroads leading to the in- 
terior, which send their lumber to Jack- . 
sonville for shipment. 

There are numbers of good-sized 
stores, well filled with goods, presenting 
an appearance of thrift and business, 
which would do credit to any city of ten 
times greater population. Most of the 
buildings in the business part of the city 
have been erected in the past five years, 
are mostly nice-looking bricks, and the 
stores, two or three stories high, have a 
substantial appearance. 

Bay Street is the principal thorough- 
fare, and is broad and handsome, run- 
ning parallel with the river, and straight 
for about a mile. From the general 
appearance of the buildings and sur- 
roundings, this street claims to be, in the 
future, one of the handsomest streets to 
be found in any city of the South. 
Some ten or a dozen streets run parallel 
to this one, and these are crossed at 
right angles by twenty others, cutting 
the city into blocks of a fair size. Many 
of the private residences are very re- 
spectable as to size and architecture, 
and many of the buildings of older date 
are being altered. Most of the streets 
are shaded with large and elegant trees, 
and give a cool and refreshing aspect to 
the dwellings. Leading out of the city 
are fine shell roads W'hich present de- • 
lightful drives. 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



57 



There are ten churches ; none of these 
are very fine edifices, but the Episco- 
palians and Catholics are erecting hand- 
some ones. The schools are good and 
graded, and are uhder the charge of 
competent superintendents and teachers, 
and are doing well. 

There are five large and good hotels, 
the Grand National Hotel, the St. James, 
the Metropolitan, the Wav^ly House, 
and the St. Johns House, with a dozen 
or more smaller ones and numerous pri- 
vate boarding houses. The first two 
accommodate about 300 guests each, 
and during a season accommodate as 
much as 5,000 guests each. 

As to newspapers, there are three 
oflSces — two tri-weeklies, one semi-week- 
ly, and two weeklies. There are three 
banks, and are all doing a good business. 
There is a good supply of doctors, law- 
yers and ministers, but any number of 
resolute and business men can find open- 
ings for success. 

Surrounding the city are three or four 
suburban towns, which, in the course of 
time will be united with the city. These 
are La Villa, Hansontown, East Jack- 
sonville, Brooklyn, Springfield and 
Riverside. 

The accommodations for travel are 
two trains from the west, and two out- 
going daily. The steamers City Point 
and Dictator, running between Palatka 
and Charleston tri-weekly, and the Liz- 
zie Baker between Palatka and Savan- 
nah Aveekly. While there are several 
other steamers plying daily between this 
point and the upper St. Johns and its 
tributaries. In fact there is every facil- 
ity for transportation of freight and 
passengers necessary that any reasonable 
community or person could desire. The 
city possesses telegraphic facilities to all 
parts of the United States. 

The people of Jacksonville, as a mass, 
are intelligent, active and hospitable, 



and the church-going proportion is quite 
large on the Sabbath. 

Real estate is low, but the tendency 
is upward, and with a prosperous coun- 
try above, it must continue to have a 
rapid and healthy growth. 

FERNANDINA 

Is the next city in importance. It is 
located on Amelia Island and St. Marys 
Bay, in Nassau County, on the best 
harbor of the Atlantic south of Norfolk, 
and about fifty miles nortli of Jackson- 
ville. Population about 3,500. It is a 
thriving place, and offers to the far- 
seeing capitalist the chance of building 
up a wide-spread and lucrative trade, as 
its future destiny is the outlet for the 
products of Florida ; the center for its 
lumber trade and naval stores ; and the 
shipping point for a large share of the 
products of the Gulf States. 

Steamers leave twice a week for Sa- 
vannah and Charleston, and twice for 
the South ; while it has daily connec- 
tions per rail with the Gulf coast, with 
Jacksonville, and the railroads leading 
into Georgia, and thence north and 
west. Sailing vessels supplied with lum- 
ber by twenty saw-mills depart con- 
stantly for Northern ports, the West 
Indies, South America and Europe. 

The visitor can not but recognize the 
thrift, energy and future prosperity of 
this place. The buildings and streets 
are like most Southern cities, but im- 
provements are everywhere indicated, 
and in a few years the smaller business 
houses will be suppbnted with massive 
edifices. 

The pleasure-seeker will find in the 
chance for boating and duck-shooting 
offered by her harbor, in the shell road 
and unrivalled beach, with its invigora- 
ting surf baths and its fifteen miles of 
smooth, unbroken race track, sufficient 
attraction for a lengthy stay. 



58 



DB. lilGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



With a liberal policy pursued by those 
who control her destiny, Fernaudina's 
future must be great and bright. 

ST. AUGUSTINE 

In all probabihty is the oldest city in 
the United States, is in St. John's 
County, on Mantanzas River, about 
thirty-five miles south of Jacksonville, 
and fifteen miles east of the St. John's 
Kiver. Population about 2,500. Its 
quaint appearance, its houses — half 
Moorish, half Christian — the many his- 
toric associations which cluster around 
it, its delightful sea-shore situation, and 
the delicious character of its climate, 
make it one of the principal places of 
attraction to the myriads of health and 
pleasure-seekers who flock to the State 
from all portions of the Union during 
the winter months. Opposite the city 
is Anastansia Island, on the south and 
west of the city is Sebastian River. 

Strangers visiting the city, generally 
go by steamers up the St. Johns to 
Tocoi, and are conveyed thence to St. 
Augustine by rail, a distance of 15 
miles in half an hour. On approaching 
the city the first objects of attraction 
are the substantial bridge that spans the 
Sebastian River and the long and nar- 
row causeway Avhich leads to the city. 
As the visitor leaves the causeway in 
the rear, he piisses beneath the dense 
foliage of the oak, and the Pride of In- 
dia trees, with the never absent moss 
adoring their branches in long skeins. 
On the right we next see the residence 
of A. Gilbert, Esq., with its handsome 
surroundings ; on tlie left is the orange 
grove and residence of Dr. Anderson ; 
in the rear of his place is the elegant 
mansion of Henry Ball, Esq., and after 
this arrives in front of the "Plaza," and 
is then in the heart of the city. 

There are four principal streets, which 
extend nearly the length of the city. 
The first one passed on entering the city 



is Tolmato, upon which the Catholic 
Cemetery is located. St. George Street 
is the second, and is called the Fifth 
Avenue. Charlotte Street is the third, 
is from 12 to 16 feet in width, and a 
mile in length. Bay Street is the 
fourth, and commands a fine view of St. 
Augustine Bay, Anastansia Island and 
the Ocean. The streets are all quite 
narrow, and some very narrow. The 
old Spanish residences are mostly built 
of stone from the quarries on Anastansia 
Island. This stone looks like a mass of 
small shell ossified. These houses are 
covered with stucco, and whitcAvashed ; 
and many have balconies on their second 
stories overhanging the streets. 

Among the things of note is the sea 
wall, which extends along the front of 
the city ; it is one mile in length, and 
has a coping of granite, four feet wide, 
which is a delightful promenade in the 
evening. Near its southern extremity 
is the Government Barracks. 

At the north-eastern end of the town 
is Fort Marion, which commands the 
inlet from the ocean. It is one of the 
oldest fortifications on this continent, 
and has accommodations for 1,000 
soldiers. 

The city gate is at the north end of 
the city, at the head of St. George 
Street. This antique object is all that 
is left of what is supposed to have been 
a wall surrounding the city. 

There are numerous other attractions 
for the visitor in this ancient city, some 
of which we will name : The Catholic 
Cathedral, in its Moorish style ; the St. 
Marys Convent, on St. George Street, just 
west of the Cathedral ; the old convent 
of the Sisters of St. Joseph, on Charlotte 
Street, north of the Barracks ; the monu- 
ment in honor of the Confederate dead, on 
St. George Street, south of Bridge Street; 
the Plaza, in the center of the city ; the 
Governor's Palace, corner of St. George 



BR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



59 



and King Streets ; the Military Ceme- 
tery, just south of the Barracks; the 
Catholic Cemetery, on the north end of 
Tolmato Street; the Hugenot Ceme- 
tery, on King's Road, just north and 
west of the City Gate. All these will 
repay the stranger's visit, and some of 
them will illustrate the times of old 
Spanish reign. 

At one time in the olden history of 
this city, the principal industry of the 
inhabitants was the orange culture. The 
fruit of St. Augustine was then es- 
teemed as the finest in the world, and 
its culture was exceedingly profitable. 
But in one night, in the year 1835, the 
orange groves were swept off by a heavy 
frost, and St. Augustine has never fully 
recovered from the blow. There are 
some small groves in the city and vicin- 
ity at present, Avhich bear well, but 
parties engaging in orange culture seek 
a more southerly situation to insure 
against frost. 

Before leaving the city, do not fail to 
visit North Beach, from which a fine 
view of the Atlantic Ocean can be had. 
^here are other points of interest, to 
which numerous yachts can be hired to 
convey strangers, and which will repay 
a visit. 

North of the city is the suburban 
town of Ravenswood, recently laid out 
by J. F. Whitney. There are beautiful 
building sites at this place, and it 
promises a rapid occupation by superb 
residences. 

There are many orange groves and 
beautiful gardens surrounding St. Aug- 
ustine, and are features of admiration to 
the Northerner. The semi-tropical fruits 
are also raised in great profusion, and of 
such delicious flavor that once tasting 
will never be forgotten. 

We will now take the reader to the j 
St. John's River, and leaving Jackson- j 
\'ille, we will proceed up the river, | 



describing cities and villages to the 
right and left as we advance on our 
journey. 

ST. John's river. 

This is the largest river in the State, 
and is in some respects as large as any 
in America. It flows directly north 
300 miles, then turns abruptly east, and 
empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The 
St. Johns is a tropical river, its beauty 
steals over you as you advance. In 
groups along its banks are seen the 
palm, the live-oak with branches stream- 
ing with silvery moss; while in the 
background are seen the feathery pine- 
trees purple in the distance. The num- 
erous springs and swamps in the south- 
ern portion of the State empty their 
surplus water into this noble stream, 
which gains in volume and width as it 
approaches the Atlantic from the num- 
erous creeks and smaller rivers frequent 
along its shores. Many portions of the 
river are six miles wide, and at no point 
north of Lake George. is it less than one 
mile wide. Along its banks may be seen 
many cozy homes, and orange groves 
and villages which lend enchantment to 
thousands of visitors who pass up the St. 
Johns in the winter season annually, 
enjoying this delightful climate. Leav- 
ing Jacksonville, and passing up the St. 
Johns, the first point of note is 

MANDARIN. 

It is a village of 300 inhabitants, and 
is one of the oldest settlements on the 
river. One of the attractions of the 
place is Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stuwe's 
winter residence, which is the cottage 
at the left of the pier surrounded with 
oak and other trees. This village is 
sixteen miles above Jacksonville, and 
on the left hand side going up. At one 
time during the Seminole wars every 
inhabitant of this place was massacred 
by the Indians. We next see 



DR. EIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



inBERNIA, 

On the right hand, seven miles farther 
up the river, and twenty-three from 
Jacksonville. This place is the pleasant, 
quiet resort of numbers of invalids, and 
is desirably located. 

MAGNOLIA, 

Six miles above Hibernia, and on the 
same side of the river, is another pleas- 
ant resort. To the north a short dis- 
tance we passed Black Creek, which is 
navigable for steamers to the center of 
Clay County, and is one of the outlets 
for the products of the surrounding coun- 
try. Two miles above Magnolia, on the 
right, is 

GREEN COVE SPRING, 

Which is the county seat of Clay 
County, and is one of the favorite 
places of resort for northern visitors. 
We are now thirty-one miles from 
Jacksonville. The Sulphur Spring is 
one of the attractions of this place, and 
is the acknowledged panacea for chronic 
rheumatism. The water of the spring 
is so clear and so warm, that bathing 
may be indulged in in January with 
pleasure. The temperature of the water 
is about 78 degrees, and its sulphurous 
condition is quite distinguishable by 
taste and odor. The Springs form a 
beautiful cove, wide-spread, with an arc 
of a mile at least, and open on the St, 
Johns River, here four miles across. 
There is excellent accommodation for 
visitors, which are extensively patron- 
ized. This place is destined to become 
one of considerable importance. 

PIC AL AT A, 
Is on the opposite shore, about ten miles 
above this point. From this place a few 
years ago the passengers from the St. 
Johns for St. Augustine were conveyed 
by stage. Opposite this place, on the 
west bank, are the remains of the an- 
cient Spanish fort Fort Poppa. We 
next see 



TOCOI, 

On the left, five miles above, and forty- 
six miles from Jacksonville. This is the 
present point of transfer for visitors to 
St. Augustine, and is in a direct line 14 
miles west from that place. This place 
often presents a lively appearance from 
the numbers of strangers desirous of 
visiting the Saratoga of Florida. Trains 
make the trip to St. Augustine in about 
half an hour. Leaving Tocoi, we pro- 
ceed on our journey, thirty -four miles, 
and arrive at 

PALATKA, 

This is the county seat of Putnam 
County, and is seventy-five miles from 
Jacksonville, and next to that place is 
the largest city on the St. Johns. It is 
at this point that passengers are gener- 
ally transferred to steamers for Enter- 
prise, Sanford, Mellonville, excursions 
up the Oclawaha to Silver Spring, 
Dunis Lake, etc. The population is 
about 1,500. There are two excellent 
hotels, a saw-mill, grist-mill, cotton-gin, 
two moss factories, numerous wholesale 
and retail stores, a weekly newspaper, 
churches and schools. It is the head of 
steamboat navigation, — all the Charles- 
ton and Savannah steamers coming to 
Palatka ; there is also a daily line of 
steamers from Jacksonville, giving a daily 
mail. This is a thriving place, and is 
the shipping point f(jr large quantities 
of cotton, sugar, oranges and other pro- 
ductions, which trade is constantly in- 
creasing. It is also a favorite resort for 
invalids and visitors, and during the 
winter season the hotels and many pri- 
vate boarding houses are filled to over- 
flowing. There are several fine orange 
groves within its limits and many pleas- 
ant residences. Four miles south of Palat- 
ka, on the opposite side of the river, is 

SAN MATEO. 

This is a new and thriving settlement 
of only five years' growth, Its inhabi- 



DR. BIGBY'S PAPEBS ON FLORIDA. 



61 



tants are engaged in the orange busi- 
ness, and numerous very promising 
young groves are commencing to bear. 
There are several Sulphur Sjjrings at 
this place, and is beginning to attract 
attention as a place of resort for visitors. 
San Mateo is unsurpassed for the beauty 
and healthfulness of its location. 

WELAKA 

Is on the left hand side of the river, and 
twenty-five miles above Palatka. It is 
the site of an old Spanish settlement, 
and is opposite the entrance of the Ocla- 
waha River. This was once quite a 
town, but a very few settlers represent 
it now. It has a post-office and steam- 
boat landing. South of and immediately 
adjoining Welaka is the new town of 
Beecher. South of this place the St. 
Johns gradually expands and forms 
Lake George, which is ten miles wide 
and eighteen miles long. Rembert Is- 
land, in this lake, has on it one of the 
largest orange groves in the State. Be- 
fore leaving Welaka, we will introduce 
the reader to the most remarkable river 
in the State. 

THE OCKLAWAHA. 

This river is a tributary of the St. 
Johns, passes nearly through the center 
of Marion County, and empties into the 
St. John's River about 125 miles from 
its mouth. It is navigated a distance of 
200 miles by a number of novel little 
steamboats somewhat resembing two- 
storied canal-boats, which connect with 
the ocean steamers at Palatka and Jack- 
sonville. The Ocklawaha is a narrow 
river, rapid in current, tortuous in its 
winding course, and magnificent and 
enchanting in its shore linings of ash, 
oak, cypress and palmetto — it is really 
a channel or passage through a cypress 
swamp and forest tangle. It is here 
numbers of alligators of all sizes, and 
many species of buds of beautiful plum- 



age attract the eye. The celebrated 
Silver Spring is 140 miles from its 
mouth. • All the Ocklawaha boats run 
to its head, from which a large amount 
of shipping is done. This spring has 
obtained a notoriety as extensive as the 
continent ; it forms at its head a basin 
of two or three acres in extent, and 
sends forth a deep volume of water one 
to two hundred feet in width, extending 
to and uniting with the Ocklawaha 
River. This beautiful spring, how can 
I describe it ! As we leave the Ockla- 
waha we turn into a silvery stream 
which carries our boat along between 
open savannas, covered with varieties 
of the richest flowers. This stream has 
a rapid current, and although twenty 
feet deep, the Avater is so clear that the 
bottom is distinctly visible. Nine miles 
up this stream and we are at the spring- 
head, or Silver Spring. This spring is 
a beautiful lakelet, surrounded by foli- 
age and flowers, moss-draped live-oaks, 
walls of Cherokee roses, and in fact 
everything in Nature's attractive colors. 
The water is so transparent, that a but- 
ton can be seen distinctly on its bottom, 
and all its surroundings are repainted 
by refraction in its water. This spring 
is noted in history as the spot where 
General Thompson was massacred by 
Oceola's band. There is a small settle- 
ment at Silver Spring, and freight and 
passengers are conveyed by stage and 
express carts to the town of Ocala. 

Returning to the Ocklawaha, the 
steamer proceeds farther up the river, 
bound for the lakes at its head — Lakes 
Griffin, Harris, Eustis and Dora. After 
seeing all the natural wonders of this 
river, you will find it as attractive as 
ever as you retrace its course. At every 
nook some new object or beauty of Na- 
ture seems to bud up to startle curiosity. 
In fact tliis river and its wild scenery 
will never be forgotten by the visitor. 



62 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



and if for nothing else than to see this 
river the traveler visited the State, this 
alone will repay his trouble and expense. 
Proceeding again up the St. Johns, 
on our return to Welaka, and after pass- 
ing numerous small settlements, we next 
come to 

8ANFORD. 

This place is located on the right 
hand side of Lake Monroe, in Orange 
County, 204 miles from Jacksonville, 
and nearly opposite Enterprise, and one 
mile north from Mellon ville. It takes 
its name from the projector, H. S. San- 
ford, Esq. There is a fine hotel, called 
the San ford House, here, which accom- 
modates 250 guests. Orange County 
abounds in all kinds of tropical fruits, 
and fish, oysters and game in abund- 
ance. This is one of the most healthy 
locations in the State, and is visited by 
thousands annually in search of health 
and pleasure. One mile further south 
is Mellonville, the site of old Fort Mel- 
lon of Indian times. Surrounding this 
place are numerous orange groves, the 
delicious fragrance of whose blossoms, 
when in bloom, are inhaled for miles. 
It is a thriving place, and contains many 
neat dwellings, churches, stores, etc. 
This is also in Orange County, and is 
attracting numerous permanent settlers, 
who are planting orange groves all over 
the county of from one to two hundred 
acres. 

Crossing the lake, we are at 

ENTERPRISE, 

On the north bank of Lake Monroe. 
This place is the terminus of the Palatka 
boats, and is a well-patronized point. 
Fishing and hunting parties are con- 
veyed from here to Lakes Harney and 
Jessup by small steamers during the win- 
ter ; and through Lake Harney to Salt 
Lake, the nearest point to the Indian 
River, the sportsman's paradise for game 
and fish. This is an enterprising place. 



and is the scene of many lively and well- 
equipped hunting parties going and re- 
turning from the hunting grounds of 
the Sunny South. 

Leaving the St. John's River, we will 
now take the reader to 

NEW SMYRNA. 

This place is due east twenty miles 
from Enterprise, on Mosquito River, 
four miles south of the inlet of the same 
name, sixty miles south of St. Augustine 
and near the Atlantic coast. This is a 
beautiful and healthy place, and is fam- 
ous in history as the Turnbull settle- 
ment a hundred years ago. Good hotel 
accommodations, and numerous neat 
dwellings, and several stores make up 
this retreat. Vessels of the largest size 
come up to this place. The prospects 
in the future of New Smyrna are very 
good, and the place is usually well-filled 
and popular with the traveler and in- 
valid. There are some fine orange 
groves in the vicinity ; the celebrated 
grove owned by Capt. Dummitt is lo- 
cated south of the inlet, and is enorm- 
ously productive. 

Before leaving the reader, and while 
in this vicinity, I will give them a brief 
description of a few promising little 
towns near New Smyrna. We will 
first visit 

NEW BRITAIN. 

Some enterprising people from Con- 
necticut have settled this place within 
a few years, and its appearance is very 
promising. It is named after their Con- 
necticut home. The inhabitants are as 
a class as desirable settlers as can be 
found in the State. They went right 
about the practical work of tilling the 
soil and building themselves desirable 
houses, and now show every evidence of 
independence and comfort. There has 
been a gradual increase in this place, 
and new families are following the ex- 
ample of original settlers. The land is 



DR. RIGBY'S PAPERS ON FLORIDA. 



63 



rich and good in this vicinity, and the 
farms under successful cultivation will 
average about ten acres, Avhicli is found 
to be sufficient for the bountiful support 
of an ordinary-sized family. Small 
orange groves are being set out, 
and prosperity seems to be indica- 
ted on every hand. This place is 
about fifteen miles north of the Mos- 
quito Inlet, and nineteen miles north 
of New Smyrna. 

DAYTONA. 

This town is located on the west bank 
of Halifax River, twelve miles north of 
the ihlet, and sixteen miles north of 
New Smyrna. The population of this 
place is very small, say 150, and is prin- 
cipally composed of Northerners desirous 
of genial homes ; as there is no part of 
Florida nearer perfection in climate than 
this region, Daytona looks favorable as 
a prosperous settlement. It is laid out 
on a tract of land comprising some 2,000 
acres, and is surveyed into lots of forty 
acres, at prices varying from $1 to $10 
per acre. There are twenty to thirty 
nice frame houses, several neat and 
tasty cottages, stores, aud in fact every- 
thing desirable in a settlement. Its lo- 
cation is exceedingly good, and visitors 
here are provided with every reasonable 
comfort, and find themselves surrounded 
with the refinements and amenities of 
the best social life. The ground upon 
which this place is located has a gradual 
rise as it recedes from the river, until at 
the distance of thirty rods, it attains an 
elevation of some fifteen feet above the 
water. Its whole area is thickly covered 
with a second growth of oak, hickory, 
pine, palmetto, mulberry, and a variety 
of other trees usually found in the ham- 



mock lands. These trees are from fifteen 
to fifty feet in height, thi-ifty in growth 
and very beautiful in appearance. They 
are one of the most attractive features of 
this locality. A street, appropirately 
named Ridgeway Avenue, has been 
opened through a forest of these trees, 
offering the most desirable sites for resi- 
dences, as such redundant, varied and 
beautiful vegetation could not be pro- 
duced in years by any expenditure of 
money. Lying flir enough south to be 
beyond the reach of winter cold, yet 
exempt from the too ardent heat of the 
tropics ; with health and plenty at its 
doors, Daytona can claim the attention 
of thou.sands wanting a delightful and 
quiet home in the South. 

HALIFAX CITY. 

This place is about three miles north- 
west and in full view of the inlet, and 
is a most healthy and delightful situa- 
tion on the Halifax River. The lands 
are high and dry hammock, affording 
excellent, sweet water and insuring per- 
fect health, while they are rich, product- 
ive and pre-eminently adapted to orange 
growing. Rose Bay is a large basin of 
salt and tidal water, flowing in and out 
directly from the ocean, and encircling 
the town east and west. The shore is 
bold and clean. The waters afford an 
ample supply of the best of oysters and 
abound iu the most excellent varieties 
of fish. Large vessels come up to the 
town. This place has been laid out by 
the East Florida Land Company, and 
will no doubt be the chief commercial 
center of this section of the country, a.« 
well as a most attractive and desirable 
village of winter and summer residents 
and fruit-growers. 




I TW IP f^ IHS S S . 

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